


Three Cabins

by writingwithmolls



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Modern AU, Multi, Summer Camp AU, all are based off of the three houses, byleth is in charge of three cabins, she's very oc and a sarcastic sadistic woman and i love her dearly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-01-20 21:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 61,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21288701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingwithmolls/pseuds/writingwithmolls
Summary: Byleth doesn't want to be stuck surrounded by bratty rich kids her age all summer, but she also has to admit that the job has its perks. Pay, for one, and health insurance. She also has to do nothing except make sure the teenagers don't kill each other.As it turns out, being a camp counselor does require work and she will be fired if her campers don't show up to activities and showcase "teamwork" and "facilitate a sense of community."With the introduction of "Byleth's Patented Point System" Byleth will show her campers what summer camp is really about--injuring their cabin mates, falling in love, and possibly getting lost in the woods with no chance of escape!
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez/Bernadetta von Varley, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Ingrid Brandl Galatea, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Ferdinand von Aegir/Hubert von Vestra, Raphael Kirsten/Ignatz Victor
Comments: 132
Kudos: 359





	1. Byleth’s Patented Point System™

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Here at Garreg Mach Summer Camp, we value friendship, teamwork, and comradery above all else.” Claude was trying not to laugh at the mission statement, Edelgard still frowning at being told off by the apathetic woman. “It is our number one goal to create a sense of community that allows us all to grow into compassionate individuals.” Byleth slammed the paper down onto the desk. “We’re here because you guys suck and if you don’t un-suck soon, I’m going to lose my job.”
> 
> While introducing a point system may allow Byleth to keep her job, her three cabins quickly fall into disarray when asked to actively participate in camp activities. Will the Black Eagles, Blue Lions, and Golden Deer be able to show that they can handle working well with their cabin mates? The point board says “no.”

“She has an  _ office _ ?” Dimitri asked skeptically, standing beside the other two cabin leaders as they attempted to find the location of their meeting. It was a sunny day, perhaps too sunny to be comfortable at a summer camp with questionable sources of air conditioning. “Have either of you even  _ seen her _ since the opening ceremony?”

Both Edelgard and Claude gave various levels of shrugs and noncommittal noises. All three of them had received letters requesting they come to the Garreg Mach Summer Camp offices for a “mandatory” training session with their head counselor Byleth. She had been introduced at the opening ceremony weeks ago as the person they should trust to hold open communication with at all times.

That didn’t go very well, considering that she dropped off the face of the planet after the initial meeting. Byleth had given them a quick spiel about teamwork and wished them a good day, never to be spoken to again. Occasionally they could see her fishing on a dock in the distance, but never quite in reach.

Edelgard led the way, pushing through the screen door and into the small building. It was hot inside—like most of the camp buildings—but the sitting area was empty. Only the steady buzzing sound from a fan in the far corner kept it from complete silence. The fan did little to push the stale air, their camp-issued t-shirts sticking to their skin. “She didn’t say which one was her office.”

“There’s name plates on the door,” Dimitri offered, pointing to one engraved with  _ Manuela _ . Edelgard and him began to look for Byleth’s, but Claude chose to stand still in the middle of the room next to the coffee table filled with camp brochures of smiling children and cause a scene.

“Byleth!” he shouted, effectively making Dimitri jump and Edelgard whipped her head around to glare at him. “What?” he asked innocently.

“You can’t just walk in and  _ yell _ ,” Edelgard said, clearly exasperated.

Claude was about to respond with a  _ yes mom _ when the door on the other side of the room slammed open.

“What the  _ fuck _ is wrong with you, von Reigan?” Byleth demanded as if there could possibly be an answer. She was supposedly glaring at the three cabin leaders, but her eyes were obscured by dark sunglasses. Claude was smiling as if he was expecting praise. “Why couldn’t you knock?”

Admittedly, not much was known about Byleth. She was younger than all of the counselors working and yet simultaneously participated in the least amount of work. The cabins at camp each had a “theme” and were grouped by threes to the head counselors. Byleth seemingly refused to take part in any of their activities and left her particular cabins to fend for themselves. Besides, they were just filled to the brim with trust-fund brats that would rather be anywhere but a church-affiliated summer camp for the summer. Most were high school students, with a good handful already in college. They were grouped by the area of the country that they came from and yet it turned out that sharing geographical boundaries didn’t equate to sunshine and happiness.

“Why are you here?” Byleth sighed, leaning on the doorway and crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m busy filling out paperwork y’know.”

“You asked us to come?” Edelgard furrowed her eyebrows. She had only seen the counselor in passing, but the air of indifference she had in person was particularly interesting. Byleth didn’t look annoyed that she was in the conversation, rather that it didn’t matter. She held up the letter that asked them to come. “The letter?”

“That’s today?” Byleth asked. “Today’s July first? I thought you wouldn’t come. I guess come in and take a seat.”

Byleth returned to her office, not waiting to see if the others would follow. Dimitri shrugged, leading the way, followed by Claude and then finally Edelgard. The office itself was small: nothing more than a desk with a computer and two more chairs sitting across from the workstation. Dimitri took the first seat and then Claude sprinted over, calling dibs on the second.

Edelgard sighed and stood behind them.

“Oh, would you like to have a seat?” Dimitri asked, beginning to get up when he saw that there wasn’t enough for all three of them.

“No, it’s fine,” Edelgard dismissed him. She wasn’t one for the boy’s chivalry. Besides, things between them had been tense due to… reasons, and she was confident that this would be her first and last forced interaction with him all summer. He reluctantly took the seat once more, sitting up straight as the other slouched downwards, balancing the chair on the back legs.

Claude began to pat his own lap insistently, looking Edelgard in the eyes. “C’mon. Take a seat.”  _ Pat, pat. Pat, pat. _ He was so sick of the dryness between the two cabin leaders. They could suck the fun out of anything, so he continued to try to spice things up.  _ Pat, pat _ .

“Would you stop that?” Edelgard scolded. “I’m not a child and I’m not going to sit in your lap.”

“Von Hresvelg. Are you not going to let me speak?” Byleth’s voice cut across their bickering, restoring the silence that she cherished so much to her office.

Edelgard looked offended. “Excuse me? Claude was the one—”

“And yet I only hear your voice and still continue to hear your voice.” Byleth sighed, kicking her boots up onto the desk. She smirked at the angry blush that began to spread across her cheeks. “Are we done?”

None of the cabin leaders responded, so Byleth forged onward. She wasn’t looking forward to this conversation. Well, she knew nothing good could come of Seteth approaching her on the dock with his haughty voice and designer loafers saying: “I have something to ask of you.” She had dissociated through half the conversation, remembering what her dad had said about the assistant camp director being a pain in the ass and realizing that she shouldn’t have been so blatantly obvious that she wasn’t taking her summer job seriously. Byleth only began to pay attention at the mention of possibly losing her job. It wasn’t that she  _ liked _ it at the camp, but she would prefer to keep it considering she was getting paid to do the bare minimum. It had taken a while for her to deduce what the problem was after Seteth had left, but eventually she caved and asked him to repeat the long lecture she was given and made a game plan.

“We are gathered here today,” she began, blatantly reading off a piece of paper that she was holding in a way that obscured her face, “because your cabins have the least amount of participating members in camp activities. Here at Garreg Mach Summer Camp, we value friendship, teamwork, and comradery above all else.” Claude was trying not to laugh at the mission statement, Edelgard still frowning at being told off by the apathetic woman. “It is our number one goal to create a sense of community that allows us all to grow into compassionate individuals.” Byleth slammed the paper down onto the desk. “We’re here because you guys  _ suck _ and if you don’t  _ un-suck _ soon, I’m going to lose my job.”

“And what exactly is your job if you don’t mind me asking?” Dimitri was the brave soul that spoke all of the thoughts they were keeping to themselves. Claude winced and Edelgard braced herself.

“Right fucking now it’s filling out harassment forms involving Gautier of  _ your cabin _ because he feels the need to comment on anyone and anything that wears a skirt.” Byleth motioned to her computer. “So, Bladeed, I don’t want to hear anything from you regarding my job when you can’t accomplish your own.”

“It’s Blaiddyd, but…” Dimitri frowned. “I don’t see why dealing with Sylvain is my job. Ingrid tries to keep him locked down but… it’s Sylvain.” He said it like the poor excuse explained all, and unfortunately, it did. 

Edelgard let out a short laugh, which didn’t go undetected by Byleth. “I’m glad that you find this funny because not a single person in your cabin hasn’t filed a request to switch out. Why do you all hate each other? We’ve had three missing person reports filed on von Varley just to find her curled up in bed. Do all of you not  _ speak to each other _ ?”

“We just don’t get along,” Edelgard said defensively.

“Well, now we’re getting along,” Byleth said, before turning to Claude. “And you. Why is Goneril in the infirmary on a daily basis and then somehow makes a miraculous recovery to appear at every meal like she’s  _ mother-fucking Lazarus _ ?”

“To be fair, it just shows how splendid the food is here. Five stars.” Claude pointed a finger gun at Byleth.

“Sucking up to me won’t work.”

“Not yet. It will,” Claude insisted.

Byleth sighed, putting her head down into her hands as the ancient air conditioning unit in the corner struggled to keep a cool breeze. Edelgard was practically fuming in the corner and Dimitri worried she would overheat if Byleth said one more disagreeable thing.

“I guess… do you have any ideas that could help us be better leaders?” Dimitri asked, getting nervous as the silence continued for far too long. “We didn’t exactly get training. We were told that the cabin leader was essentially a figurehead position.”

“I do always enjoy it when someone asks a good question.” Byleth finally picked her head up. “I created an incentive-based game that will reward you for getting more of the bastards participating.”

“Oh, I love a good game.” Claude leaned forward, rubbing his hands together. He had assumed that the other cabins weren’t getting along—he could tell by the way that there always seemed to be people being left out—but he didn’t know that it was  _ that bad _ . He also knew that Byleth was in trouble due to her own pure incompetency, but he wouldn’t let that get in the way of having fun with a nice, good, clean, kind-hearted game. “Please do tell.”

“Essentially, I have created a point system.” Byleth pulled a large whiteboard up from the ground that had been leaning against the wall. It was split into three sections, each titled with a cabin name: Golden Deer, Blue Lions, Black Eagles. Her handwriting was much neater than the others had expected, looking almost like a font. “Whenever you or your cabin does something that shows that you are taking summer camp seriously, I’ll add some points. If you do something that isn’t in the spirit of  _ camaraderie _ or  _ doesn’t foster a sense of community _ , I’ll take away points. Whoever has the most points at the end of the summer will be the winner.”

Dimitri feigned raising his hand. “Isn’t that just from one of those dystopian novels? You know, the ones with different schools?”

Byleth stared at him silently for approximately twenty seconds before picking a whiteboard marker off of her desk. She opened it, the potent smell of chemicals drifting through the room. “Well, since you want to make fun of the system that I put so much effort into, minus ten points.” She wrote  _ -10 _ under Black Eagles.

“Um,” Edelgard tilted her head, “I’m the cabin leader of Black Eagles.”

“Ah, my mistake.” Byleth corrected the mistake. Well, corrected was a bit of a strong word because she added another  _ -10 _ under Blue Lions, leaving the first one on the board.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Believe me, you have done enough.” Byleth nodded. “I need to see more interaction within all of your cabins. This is supposed to be a happy summer camp, one that you will remember for the rest of your lives. You’re going to gain a found family… you might even fall in love.”

Claude began to laugh while Dimitri and Edelgard looked at the point board skeptically. Losing points before even leaving the meeting? Forget gaining any points. Edelgard could barely get three people to attend camp activities at a time, much less all of them. Dimitri was less concerned, but also knew that his cabin could require lots of wrangling at times.

“I think we can get along,” Byleth continued. “You’ll be seeing lots of me around now.” 

“I still don’t understand how I lost points.” Edelgard was visibly frustrated. She didn’t like unfair people and Byleth happened to be the epitome. “I’m being blamed for your mistake.”

Byleth promptly changed the 1 to a 2 and refused to comment on how the point system functioned. “As I said, the cabin with the most points will win, I’m sure you won’t disappoint me.”

“Well, which cabin do you plan on joining?” Dimitri asked. The air in the room turned tense as the three cabin leaders looked onto the counselor. “We could use your strength to help us lead.”

“That’s hardly fair to ask her first,” Edelgard said. “My cabin admittedly could use someone to help us reinforce our bonds.”

“Yet, you would have the most fun with Golden Deer.” Claude winked.

Byleth looked between the three of them, all suddenly interested in what she had to say. Byleth had to admit, it would be a hard choice. If it was a choice at all.

She laughed, setting all three of the leaders on edge. “Oh my Goddess,” she said, shaking her head. “Did you guys  _ really _ think I was going to participate? With you people?” She had to admit it was hilarious.

“It was worth a shot.” Dimitri laughed nervously. 

“Now, I still need to finish the Gautier report number five,” Byleth said, waving her hand to try to get the camp leaders out of her office. Edelgard was quick to react, turning on her heels and huffing out of the room. Dimitri followed, leaving Claude who was sitting with his arms tucked behind his head.

“Now, Byleth. You said that you wanted  _ teamwork _ , is that correct?” he asked.

“Yes, von Reigan. As long as you get points we can all lead a very happy life.” Byleth didn’t spare a glance. She had switched from sunglasses to reading glasses, typing quickly into the computer and groaning about whatever Sylvain had managed to accomplish in the last week since filing the prior report. “At the moment, your cabin is winning, congratulations.” There was no shift in her tone.

Claude smiled wide, his brain churning up ideas. This could be fun. This could be  _ really _ fun if he played his cards right for the next two months. The possibilities were truly endless. “Byleth, did you know that Edelgard can’t swim?”

“I did not.”

“Okay, well the Black Eagles have a turn on the lake tomorrow morning after breakfast.” His smile was slowly turning mischievous, he could see the plan clearly laid out in front of him. “It would be truly a shame if all of their kayaks were, perhaps, floating in the middle of the lake. And how absolutely devastating would it be if they had to figure out how to work together to manage to get them back on shore,  _ especially _ when their own cabin leader can’t go into the water?” He shook his head.

“That would be quite the predicament, von Reigan,” Byleth said. He was proud that he noticed the glint in her eyes at the insinuations. It was going to work out just splendidly.

“And I noticed that all of the Blue Lions keep their hiking boots in one central area,” Claude continued to test his luck. “It would be a shame if a robbery were to occur, then the poor souls would never be able to hike… ”

While Claude was busy plotting in the office, Dimitri followed Edelgard as she stormed off towards the cabins. “What’s her problem?” she was muttering, most definitely not to him, but he attempted to pace in time with her.

“I don’t think she actually plans to make us earn the points,” Dimitri offered, only furthering Edelgard’s scowl. “I mean, one of her supervisors had to have told her that she had to make an incentive program. None of our cabins are going to  _ actually _ pit themselves against each other over arbitrary points.”

Edelgard turned her head, but refused to slow down as she marched back to her cabin. “You better stay out of my way. I’m not going to start some petty competition with you because the woman who hasn’t been doing her job for a full month suddenly decided that we have to listen to her.”

“Okay,” Dimitri said, letting Edelgard get ahead of him. He frowned. It wasn’t his goal to further aggravate the girl, rather try to bridge the ever-growing gap that was being wretched between them.  _ Of course _ he wasn’t going to incite a war between the cabins. Byleth was going to get her participation points and then they could all just go back to the peaceful summer that they had all been leading.

Well, at least he wanted that to be the case.

* * *

Dimitri contemplated his morning over a cup of coffee and the liveliness of his cabin mates. Over the past month he would have a moment to drink the dining hall coffee, taking his time to smell the bitter aroma that spilled from the styrofoam cup. He couldn’t taste the drink himself, but he heard enough mixed reviews regarding the substance the dining hall had created. Annette drank it with three spoonfuls of sugar and four creamers. Dedue would drink it black, claiming that it was just normal coffee. The tall, dark haired man that was always in Edelgard’s shadow (Dimitri had to admit he had never caught his name) claimed that the watered down drink was an absolute affront to humanity and wasn’t worthy of being called such.

Dimitri glanced over to the Black Eagle’s table, noting their absence. It wasn’t unusual for one or more of the cabin members to be missing—especially during breakfast—but not a single person was present. Across the room, most of the Golden Deer were seated, but quite a few notable members were missing. Dimitri knew them better and was able to pick out the deserters: Claude, Raphael, and Lorenz. The dining hall wasn’t quite as loud with their absence.

“Is everything alright?” Dedue asked next to him.

He sighed. “I suppose.” He took a slow sip of the coffee, willing the caffeine to enter his bloodstream. “Isn’t it a bit strange that none of the Black Eagles are here? And where’s Raphael? He never misses a meal; it’s unsettling.”

“It’s better like this. Quiet.” Felix scowled across the table. Despite his apparent hatred towards Dimitri, it always seemed half-hearted considering his constant need to comment on everything that he said.

“I mean, I guess.” Dimitri took another sip of his coffee. Byleth entered the room (the campers had never seen her take a step in the dining hall) with her point-system white board under one arm and a Starbucks frappuccino in the other hand. 

“Why is Byleth here?” Annette asked the others, clearly concerned. “Did we do something?”

“I wouldn’t say we did something, more that  _ she _ has been doing a lack of anything.” Dimitri made sure to keep his voice down in fear that the counselor would overhear. He watched as she placed the board on the ground, taking velcro Command Strips out of her pocket and working on sticking the whiteboard to the wall. As she pinned it up, he frowned. Under the Black Eagles was  _ -50 _ , about thirty less than the cabin held the prior afternoon. He didn’t have much time to process before needing to keep his own cabin in check.

Sylvain whistled. “Now that is a woman.” Ingrid promptly smacked him in the back of the head. “Ow! What was that for?”

“I don’t need to answer that question.” Ingrid sighed, Mercedes laughing gently beside her.

“When will you learn?” she asked.

“Look! All I’m saying is that Byleth is very gifted.”

Half of the table groaned, while the other half was trying to figure out what Byleth was doing as she looked proudly at her point system now adorning the wall.

“Um, what is that?” Ashe asked Dimitri, waving to get his attention. “Why are we in the negatives?”

“Byleth told the cabin leaders that we have to do better at showing up to activities or she’ll lose her job,” Dimitri began to explain. He was about to describe the absolute ridiculousness behind the idea, but his eyes drifted over and he realized that Byleth was listening intensely. He shuddered. “We lost points because I talked back, though I’m not sure how the Black Eagles are so far behind.”

Byleth nodded, returning to admiring her handiwork while sipping from her coffee. Dimitri felt as if he had just escaped death in that moment, so he shook his head and continued to silently drink his coffee while Ashe puzzled over what just occurred

They finished up their breakfast, heading back to the cabin so that they could get ready for a hike. The camp didn’t monitor all of their activities, but they were required to hit a certain quota of extracurriculars per week. Overall, the Blue Lions were a pretty active group, so they took advantage of the choice of wandering through the woods for a couple of hours. Back in the cabin, Dimitri went to the boys’ room to grab a pair of socks.

“How are they all gone?” He could hear Annette from the mud room.

“Okay, who hid them?” Ingrid asked, clearly annoyed. “Sylvain?”

“Me? I didn’t do shit.”

“Okay, okay, what’s the matter?” Dimitri re-entered the room, to where the cabin was crammed into the entrance. He peeked over Ashe and saw the problem. In the closet where they kept most of their hiking boots and sneakers… well, there was nothing.

“It’s not funny.” Ingrid crossed her arms, still glaring at Sylvain.

While Sylvain fought to maintain his innocence, Dedue bent down and picked up a scrap of paper that was left at the bottom of the empty closet on the shoe rack. He read it out loud: “Don’t worry and just keep looking up.”

“Blue Lions, what—and I can not stress it enough— _ the fuck _ ,” Byleth’s voice echoed into the cabin, aided by a megaphone.

Dimitri felt his fight or flight instinct go haywire as he exited the cabin. Byleth was several yards away, pointing upwards at a tree. His jaw dropped.

“The fuck?” Felix asked as he, too, stepped out onto the porch.

None of the Blue Lions were quite sure how they managed to miss it on the way in, but across the path from their cabin was a tall tree adorned with their hiking boots and sneakers. Each pair had the laces tied together before being seemingly thrown high up into the branches.

“Is this supposed to be a Christmas tree?” Byleth asked into the megaphone, as if they weren’t all outside on the porch. “Because to me, it looks like you’re killing the environment.”

“How did they get up there?” Mercedes wondered.

“You better get them down before I start taking away points.”

This sent the cabin into action. They all stood underneath, necks craned to gauge the situation. Ha,  _ just keep looking up _ . What a nice touch.

Sylvain jumped into the air a few times, trying to grab a pair of boots from a lower branch. Even with his height, he wasn’t able to even touch the lowest one. Dedue managed to hit one of the boots, but it just swayed with the force and refused to drop from the tree.

“Do you have a ladder?” Felix asked Byleth.

Byleth held the megaphone up to her mouth announcing, “Do you think I’m going to pull a ladder out of thin air, Fraldarius?” Right in his face.

“You are unbearable,” he responded.

“Minus ten for Blue Lions,” she said into the microphone once more as Felix stormed away.

“What if Sylvain got onto Dedue’s shoulders?” Annette suggested. Dimitri knew from experience that she was quick to get anxious, especially when the threat of a person of authority was expressing slight disappointment. “They’re the tallest, so Sylvain might be able to get some down.”

Sylvain shrugged, looking over to Dedue. “How about it?”

“I guess.” Dedue looked displeased, but he was also glancing warily between Byleth and Dimitri. What a nice friend. He crouched down and allowed Sylvain to climb onto his shoulders. Dimitri helped them balance as Dedue rose. Annette had been right, with the two tallest men stacked on one another they could reach most of the shoes. Sylvain began to toss them down pair by pair, purposefully in the direction of Felix who let out a string of curses each time. Dedue looked unfazed, just moving whenever he was told to in order to get closer to the branches as Mercedes cheered them on. Byleth looked to be satisfied with the results of her megaphone.

They had almost gotten all the boots down, the grass littered with them, but there were still some higher up in the tree. “Get me to that branch and I’ll pull myself into the tree.” Sylvain pointed to one of the lower branches.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Ashe asked. “Sylvain, will you be able to get down?”

“What do I look like, a cat? Of course I’ll be able to get down,” Sylvain said with a wink. He grabbed onto the branch and pulled himself into the tree.

For the next several minutes they watched from the ground as Sylvain climbed from branch to branch, chucking shoes out left and right. Annette began to pick them up, returning the boots and sneakers back to the original owners and dodging the stragglers. By the time that he had finished, Byleth looked even more disinterested than usual, as if she was hoping for the problem to pose more of a challenge for the campers. She was about to walk away when Mercedes called out, “That’s all of them! Now come down!”

“Sure thing!” Sylvain said, looking at the branches below him and sticking out his foot to get to the lower one. He didn’t step on it, however, instead looking between the branches, then the ground, then back up to the branches. “I think I’m stuck.”

“You’re not stuck,” Ingrid called back up. Byleth paused, turning back around to watch the scene unfold. Dimitri knew that if she had the resources, she would have pulled out a bag of popcorn. “You got up there, so you can come back down.”

He attempted to get to the lower branch, but he almost lost his balance and he gripped onto the highest branch that he was currently stationed on. “I’m going to fall.”

“What’s the matter, Gaudier?” Byleth called into her megaphone, purposely mispronouncing the name. “The pretty girls are on the ground, what are you doing up there?”

“It’s  _ Gautier _ .” Sylvain frowned, a steady flush appearing on his cheeks. He repeated. “I’m going to fall if I try to climb down.”

“Stop being a little bitch, you can do it.” Felix huffed, throwing a loose stick up at his childhood friend. Dimitri winced as Sylvain almost lost his grip on the tree. He wasn’t going to lie, he did look to be panicked at the aspect of making his way down the tree. He  _ was _ pretty high up there.

“You are so useless.” Ingrid shook her head. She walked towards the trunk of the tree and stood at the bottom. Dimitri thought she was going to sit down, but she hopped up and gripped the trunk. The others watched in amazement as she scaled it, not stopping until she was sitting comfortably on the lowest branch. She then maneuvered her way over to Sylvain who was staring at her with his mouth agape. She balanced on a branch a bit underneath him, taking his foot into her hand. “I’m going to move your foot where it needs to be so that you can get down.”

Carefully, she helped Sylvain to the lowest branch, coaxing him limb by limb to climb his way down. He almost slipped a few times, but Ingrid was there to steady him and work his way back to Dedue’s shoulders, finally to the ground once more. He was uncharacteristically silent as Mercedes fretted over him and wiped leaves from his clothes.

Ingrid perched on the lowest branch, looking down at Dimitri. “Catch me?” she asked.

“Sure.” Dimitri put his arms out as she leapt the distance, keeping her from hitting the ground too hard.

“I don’t want to be  _ that person _ ,” Ashe raised his hand, “but why didn’t you just climb the tree in the first place?”

Ingrid shrugged. “It looked like Sylvain got it.”

“He was  _ very  _ confident,” Mercedes added, helpfully.

“Plus twenty; because what a woman,” Byleth said, before walking away.

* * *

While the Blue Lions managed to get back onto the point board with a mere zero point total, the Black Eagles had destroyed any chance of that happening at approximately seven in the morning…

“Does anyone want to tell me how all the kayaks are stranded on the island in the middle of the lake, or did they just teleport there?” Edelgard asked her cabin mates, rubbing at her temples as she stood on the shore of the lake.

“Perhaps an unpopular opinion, but I don’t think any of us did that,” Caspar said, motioning towards the water. “Why would one of us do this?”

“Are you trying to take the blame away from yourself, Edelgard?” Ferdinand shook his head, clicking his tongue. “I knew that you were trying to send us all into disarray and break our trust in one another.”

“One of us swam the boats?” Petra tilted her head. “Why?”

“Edie, it’s too early in the morning for a conspiracy theory.” Dorothea yawned. “I love you, but just blame Lin or Bern since they’re not here and move on.” They hadn’t been able to get either of them out of bed.

“I’m not going to just stand by and let one of you get away with this.” Edelgard crossed her arms, looking at each one of the campers in the eye except for Hubert, who loomed behind her doing the same.

“Edie, you are going about this wrong, just take a deep breath,” Dorothea chided, putting an arm around the girl. In the past month, the only person that Edelgard had gotten remotely close to was Dorothea, who was too insistent on chatting all the time to leave anyone alone. “I know that you’re upset because Byleth yelled at you but that doesn’t mean—”

“I’m not upset by that,” the clearly upset cabin leader insisted. “I’m upset because we have to go boating after breakfast and we can’t do that with no boats.”

“How was it known that the boats were gone?” Petra asked.

“Hubert went to prepare for the day and none of them were in the shed.” 

“Then it was Hubert if anyone!” Caspar said, exasperated. “Don’t blame us!”

“Well, we need to get the boats.” Edelgard pointed towards the island. Some of the boats were threatening to leave the shore, the waves of the lake slowly lapping against them. “And there’s none left, so you’re going to have to swim.”

“You?” Ferdinand puzzled.

“Will you not swim?” Petra was looking into the shed, as if there would be another boat hiding within.

“I’m not a strong swimmer,” Edelgard said, much more quiet than the rest of her accusations towards the others. “I wouldn’t be able to get out there.”

“I guess it’s settled,” Dorothea said, pulling her shirt over her head and casting it to the ground. She kicked off her sneakers and then her shorts, leaving her just in her underwear. Edelgard sighed, knowing that she just wanted an excuse to do so, while Ferdinand blinked like the one white guy meme that Dorothea adored so much.

“Do I remove my clothes too?” Petra frowned.

“Only if you want to, sweetie.” Dorothea dipped her toe into the water. “Goddess, it’s cold!”

Hubert walked silently into the lake until it reached his chest and then dived forward. Ferdinand and Caspar shrugged, both discarding their shirts and racing in after the taller man. Petra took off her shoes and tugged Dorothea into the cold water. Dorothea yelped at the temperature change, but began to swim after the boys.

Edelgard sighed, sinking down to the sand and watching as they all swam further into the water. It wasn’t an extraordinarily big lake, but it would take a while for them to retrieve the boats. Her cabin mates did have a point; it was unlikely that this was orchestrated by one of them. They all wouldn’t be willing to swim in the cold water if they had planned it. There was no way that Bernadetta would retaliate so viciously and equally unlikely that Linhardt would bother with such a task.

The sound of a motor behind her yanked her out of her thoughts.

“Von Hresvelg,” Edelgard flinched at the counselor’s voice, “why are you sunbathing while all of the others swim after the boats?”

“Did you put the boats on the island?” she challenged as Byleth plopped down into the sand next to her, kicking some of the grains onto her leg.

“Von Bergliez looks like he’s going to drown.” She pointed out to the lake, where sure enough Ferdinand and Hubert were attempting to keep Caspar’s head above water. They seemed to be managing well enough.

“He probably was trying to talk while swimming.” Edelgard rolled her eyes. “He never shuts up.”

“So, how come you’re not in the water?” Byleth asked. For a moment, it didn’t seem to be sardonic or judgemental. It was like she was genuinely curious. “Can’t get your hair wet?”

“I don’t know how to swim,” she admitted, watching as the figures got closer and closer to the island in question. “You would know if you attended any of the camp activities.”

“Minus ten because I don’t think this is very team spirit of you.” Byleth crossed her arms. “You shouldn’t leave your cabin out there to drown like that.”

Edelgard couldn’t tell if it was a joke, but she had a sneaking suspicion that it was not. “Are you kidding me?”

“Nope.” Byleth shook her head. “Learn how to swim and then maybe you can get some points back.”

Hubert was the first to make it to the island, shaking his hair out like a wet dog in the distance. Ferdinand and Petra managed to drag Caspar to shore, who miraculously did not die in the lake.

“Why can’t your point system be fair?” Edelgard insisted. “I understand it, but you need to figure out how many points people get and for what. You can’t just take away points each time someone annoys you or tells you that you’re wrong.”

“You’re right.” Byleth nodded, not looking at Edelgard and instead watching as the Black Eagles began to push the kayaks back into the water and figure out how to get them all back to shore. “So since your cabin mates are doing so well, they get plus ten. And Macneary kept von Bergliez from drowning so she gets plus twenty.” She looked thoughtfully at the sky. Edelgard smiled, that meant that they were back at a solid and respectable zero points. “But since you think you’re smarter than me, minus fifty.”

Edelgard was about to argue when Byleth’s phone went off. “Oh, my Uber Eats is here. Good work, von Hresvelg.” She patted her on the shoulder a bit too hard before hopping on the golf cart she had ridden over and drove away.

Edelgard was fuming, but she willed herself to stay calm. She would not let this stupid summer camp get to her. No matter how hard it was trying.

* * *

“Claude, I don’t think we can get away with this.” Lorenz sighed. “Byleth almost saw us throwing the shoes into the tree.”

“You worry too much.” Claude waved him off, calling out to Ignatz. “Ignatz, if you hold the racket like that you’re never going to be able to block your face when Hilda wails on you.”

“Alright.” Ignatz shifted nervously. He was on the receiving end of the court, in position to be served at by none other than Hilda. Raphael motioned with his hands how to properly hold the racket as the pink haired girl bounced the ball threateningly. Marianne stood nervously at the net, twirling the racket in her hands.

Hilda might have been notorious for being lazy, but she was a tennis goddess. Ever since she realized that the harder she hit the ball, the less she would have to run after it, she gained a wicked serve and forehand.

Lysithea poked Lorenz, him swatting her away. “What, are you scared of Byleth?”

“I’m not scared.” He shook his head. “I just don’t want to risk losing points.”

“Black Eagles were already at negative fifty,” Leonie added, “and Blue Lions were still at negative ten. I think we’re fine.”

“C’mon, Lorenz, this is going to be fun,” Claude insisted, tossing a tennis ball in the air. He tried to catch it, but it just hit his hand and then rolled away. “We’re going to earn points and win and wreak havoc and have an  _ amazing _ summer.”

“Forty serving love,” Hilda called out, tossing her own ball into the air and snapping down on it. It went sailing past Raphael and into the corner of the service box, Ignatz hitting the air what seemed like seconds too late. “Game.”

Claude clapped politely for his friend, adjusting his own tennis skirt and getting ready to take the court with Leonie against the reigning champs. Lorenz didn’t know, but Byleth did in fact see them when they were throwing the boots up into the tree. She had shrugged and turned to walk the other way. As far as he was concerned, summer camp was now a war. One that he, of course, planned to win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! My name is Molls and I write (mostly) sapphic polyam content!
> 
> If you enjoyed please consider following [my fandom twitter](https://twitter.com/archivewithmoll) and [my personal twitter](https://twitter.com/mollyswiencki) where I write sapphic polyam novels!
> 
> thank you for the support <3


	2. Bernadetta Kills Two Birds (Ferdinand and Caspar) With One Solid Right Cross

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, I am glad that you are ready, Byleth.” Seteth frowned as Byleth stood next to him. “Is it just me, or do your campers not look… thrilled?”
> 
> “No, they’re very happy to be here. All they’ve been talking about the last three days,” she assured.
> 
> “You told us this morning?” Ferdinand asked, but thankfully Seteth didn’t hear.
> 
> The Black Eagles have a chance to get back onto the board thanks to a cabin-wide archery competition. While Bernie is reluctant to participate, her cabin mates are convinced that she is their best shot at winning the points. Will she be able to stay calm, or will Byleth and Edelgard push her over the edge?
> 
> Black Eagles: -70  
Blue Lions: -5  
Golden Deer: 6

Perhaps the worst part of living with the Black Eagles was their mornings. The girls’ side of the cabin was never  _ too _ bad. Each of the cabins were split into two rooms by gender, each with their own bathroom. The biggest threat to their relative peace was this bathroom, as four women and one shower stall didn’t exactly allow for ample time to get ready in the morning (no matter how much Dorothea insisted more than one person could use the shower at a time, no one would take her up on the offer). After Dorothea had made that comment the first week, Bernadetta had refused to get ready at the same time as the others in the morning, making her late for breakfast if she ever did show up.

The three remaining girls would cram themselves around the mirror in the morning. Edelgard would usually brush her hair out quietly as Dorothea curled hers and Petra wrangled hers up into her braid. She had to ignore the songtress’s pleas to curl her hair the whole time. It wasn’t that she disliked Dorothea. In fact they were quite fond of one another, but she could just be extremely overbearing at six or seven in the morning.

The boys’ side of the cabin was either silent in the morning or Linhardt’s nightmare, with nothing in between. Caspar would bound out of bed as if he had drunk six Monster Energy Drinks in his sleep (which was possible) and always managed to kick Linhardt climbing out of the bunk. Ferdinand liked to whine about anything and everything. Hubert had bought a french press and insisted on making coffee every morning instead of chancing the shitty dining hall concoction.

“Good morning, Edelgard,” Hubert greeted as she walked into the boys’ room. He could hear that Ferdinand was in the shower—ideal because then he wouldn’t be around to try to join their morning coffee. She grabbed the mug from his hands and took a sip. He refused to drink anything but black coffee, but she didn’t mind it  _ too much _ . “Did you sleep well?”

Edelgard shrugged. “I guess.” If she were to be honest, she lost a bit of sleep due to the sheer anger of being told off by Byleth. The previous day was hell as Byleth appeared at every possible moment, watching the campers like a hawk. Miraculously, the Black Eagles only lost twenty more points, bringing them to a solid negative 70. The tall, lanky kid from Blue Lions (Dorothea knew his name, but only called him variations of slut, himbo (he’s definitely not a  _ himbo _ , Linhardt had insisted), manwhore, etc.) managed to lose them five, bringing them back into the negatives. The Golden Deer were sitting comfortably at positive six for Goddess knows what.

“I could deal with her if you would like,” Hubert said, taking a sip of his coffee. His hair was still damp from the shower, but was beginning to curl up as if dried.

“You can’t kill Byleth.”

He frowned. “I wasn’t going to kill her—just get her fired—but that could be arranged, too.”

“I just want her to do this whole points thing  _ fairly _ ,” Edelgard insisted, leaning into the pillows on Hubert’s bed.

“Can you be quiet?” Linhardt called from his bed across where the two were sitting. “It’s too early to be that loud.”

“You’re just going to sleep through breakfast, anyways.” Hubert sighed. “You can go back to sleep when we leave in twenty minutes.”

Linhardt groaned, taking one of his many pillows and shoving it over his head. He held a strong dislike for his cabin mates. None of them appreciated the art of sleep and, in Caspar’s case, practically spat at it. He just wanted peace and quiet, which was only awarded when all of them  _ left _ . Then he only had to worry about Bernadetta’s shrill screaming if he managed to do anything she deemed distasteful.

“Good morning,” Dorothea greeted as she walked into the room. She was wearing the camp t-shirt that she had cropped; she had modified each one to be less ‘drab and boring.’ She looked around the room. “Good morning, Lin.” Which was met with a groan. “You’re going to run late, Caspar,” she said to the boy who was attempting to spike his hair up with hair gel.

She stood next to the bed where the other two were sitting, placing a kiss on Edelgard’s forehead. “Good morning, Edie.” She grabbed the mug from her hands and took a sip. “Oh, yuck. How do you drink this?” She handed the coffee back.

“You know, the whole point of having split rooms is so that you  _ don’t come in here _ ?” Caspar asked, turning to Dorothea. “It’s already enough to deal with the others in here without adding.”

“Yelling,” Linhardt reminded.

“What’s on the agenda today?” Dorothea asked, grabbing the mug from Hubert and taking a sip. She scrunched her face. “Hubie, this tastes like dirt.”

“I made it for me, not you.” Hubert snatched it back, but he was used to Dorothea sampling his coffee every morning. She and Edelgard were the only two in the cabin who were comfortable talking to him. Well, them and—

“Hubert!” A shout from the bathroom. “Where did you put my hairdryer?”

“Under the cabinet because you left it out  _ again _ .” Hubert raised his voice just loud enough for him to hear.

“It’s not there,” Ferdinand insisted. “What did you do with it?”

“I told you.” Hubert’s face hardened. “Check under the cabinet.”

“And  _ I _ told  _ you _ , it’s not there!”

Hubert stood abruptly, handing the mug to Dorothea. 

“Please don’t strangle him, it’s not worth losing the points.” Edelgard groaned, putting her face into her hands. Dorothea sat down on the bed next to her as Hubert practically broke the bathroom door opening it.

“Petra! Do you want coffee?” Dorothea yelled. “Bern, too!”

“What the hell is wrong with you people?” Linhardt sat up, glaring at Dorothea who attempted another sip of the coffee to no avail. “I’m sleeping.”

“Are you not going to ask if I want any?” Caspar complained, seeming to be finally satisfied with his hair.

“You don’t need more caffeine,” Dorothea said.

“The coffee Hubert makes is… “ Petra joined in the doorway “... hard? It tastes hard?” She was struggling to describe it.

“Bitter,” Dorothea suggested. “It’s kind of the opposite of sweet.”

Petra nodded. “It’s bitter.”

“That’s how coffee is supposed to taste,” Hubert said, defending his brew. He returned to the room with surprisingly no blood on his person as far as the others could see. 

“Please leave.” Linhardt was practically begging at this point. He was pulling the blankets up over his head, as if that would dispel the campers in the room.

The various bickering continued until there was a sharp knock at the door. Confused, considering that the only person who wasn’t in the room was Bernadetta, they all just stared at the door in silence. 

“I can hear all of you in there,” Byleth said as she opened the door. “Since I don’t trust all of you to come to breakfast, I need to deliver the announcement in person.”

“Really? I’m trying to sleep.” Linhardt threw a pillow in the direction of the counselor, failing miserably.

“Minus ten, von Hevring.” The rest of the cabin groaned, but Linhardt didn’t care. “Today at three in the afternoon I am holding an archery competition. You are required to have one person participate and  _ all _ must be present at the shooting range to cheer on your cabin mate.”

“Which one of your supervisors is going to be there?” Edelgard rolled her eyes, knowing very well that there would be no other reason for the activity.

“Seteth, but minus five for being smug, von Hresvelg.”

“Fair,” Ferdinand said as he came out of the bathroom.

“Also, it’s one hundred points to whatever cabin wins,” Byleth added.

“Oh, shit.” Dorothea looked excited. “We would be back on the board!”

“Yes, it’s all very exciting,” Byleth said, not that her voice showed it. “So the archery competition is at three at the shooting range. I expect all of you to show up.” She glared at the bed where Linhardt was hiding under the covers. “All.”

Byleth left and Caspar was the first to speak. “Does she really think that will work?”

“Caspar, don’t be a dick.” Dorothea shook her head as Hubert plucked the mug of coffee from her yet again. “We can get back on the positive side of the board!”

“You’re really going to let these points manipulate you?” 

“Edie wants to get on Byleth’s good side and possibly into her cabin, so I’ll do my best.” Dorothea’s words forced Edelgard to choke on her coffee.

“Dorothea,” she coughed, “I don’t want to know what you’re going on about.”

“It’s fine, you’re valid and Byleth is very pretty.” Dorothea winked before moving on. “So, who can shoot a bow?”

All of the cabin members looked at one another and shrugged. “I’ve done it once or twice,” Caspar offered.

“I do okay, but not perfection,” Petra added.

“I’ve never touched one,” Hubert said and most of the others agreed with him.

“I guess it is up to—”

“Oh, shit,” Dorothea started. “Didn’t we learn that Bern is top in state for archery?”

“I, Ferdinand von Aegir.” Ferdinand puffed out his chest as he took the responsibility to carry his cabin to victory.

“Bernadetta,” Edelgard and Hubert agreed with a nod.

“Hey!” Ferdinand waved. “Is anyone listening?”

“I do not think so,” Petra said as everyone filed out of the boys’ room and into the girls’.

Ferdinand followed, wondering why they would feel the need to pass on his offer. Sure, he may have never held a proper bow before, but he couldn’t imagine it would be hard with all his other skills. Besides, how did they believe they would get Bernadetta out of bed? She only ever left the room to eat or find a quiet place by the lake to read or write.

Ferdinand watched as Dorothea stood on the bottom bunk and looked up at the pile of blankets that was Bernadetta. “Bern? Are you awake? We have a question.”

“Is she even alive?” Hubert asked.

“She is live,” Petra assured. “I am checking her breaths every morning to be making sure.”

“Bern, honey, good morning.” Dorothea tried again to no avail.

“You check every morning that she’s  _ alive _ ?” Caspar frowned. “That’s not good.”

“You try getting her out of bed.” Edelgard crossed her arms. “She barely speaks a word to any of us.”

“I can get her out,” Caspar said. The others watched in horror as he scaled the bunk bed, flinging himself into the bed with Bernadetta.  _ That _ got a noise out of her.

Bernadetta shrieked as her cabin mate sat by her feet. This was how she was going to die. They were going to kill her for being a bad roommate and throw her body into the lake and—

“Bernadetta, I’m not going to do any of that.” She hadn’t even realized that she was talking out loud until Caspar put his hands up.

“You’re going to kill me!” she yelled, shrinking further into the corner and clutching a pillow to her chest.

“Caspar! You’re scaring her!” Dorothea scolded, climbing the bunk herself and joining him. “Bern, it’s okay, we’re not going to hurt you.”

“Having more people is going to make it worse,” Caspar yelled at Dorothea, who defended herself.

“Oh my Goddess,” Edelgard said, watching the scene unfold. Well, listening. She couldn’t see into the bunk. Petra was wincing at the shrieks while Hubert rubbed at his temples. Ferdinand was sulking by the door and she was sure that Linhardt was attempting to block out the noise in the other room.

“Bernadetta! Please stop screaming,” Caspar insisted. He couldn’t sit upright in the lofted bed, but, hunched over, he looked at the girl who was cowering as far away as she could away from him. “No one is going to kill you, we’re not mad at you.”

“You’re mad at me!” she insisted.

“No one is mad at you,” Dorothea promised, hoping that she couldn’t hear Hubert’s ‘I am.’ 

“You told us during the icebreakers,” Caspar attempted, “that you placed in your state on your high school archery team, right?”

“Yes,” Bernadetta said in a  _ slightly _ less-shrill voice. Dorothea smiled gently, not making any movement for fear of scaring her again. “What about it?” She looked skeptical.

“Well, Byleth told us that there’s going to be an archery competition,” Dorothea started, “and we were hoping that you would be able to help us.”

“Who’s Byleth?” Bernadetta asked. “Is she going to kill me?”

This time, Dorothea had to pray that she didn’t hear  _ Edelgard’s _ ‘probably.’

“She’s very nice,” Dorothea lied. “Please come with us, I know that you can do amazing.”

Bernadetta held eye contact for a record three seconds. “No.”

“No?” Caspar honestly looked surprised. The chorus of the cabin groaned.

“Everyone will be looking at me.” Bernadetta pulled the blankets over her head. “I don’t want to do it.”

“You’re the only one who can.” Edelgard huffed. “Ferdinand. Hubert. Carry her to breakfast.”

“I’m sorry what?” Caspar said to the command as Bernadetta began to pick up screaming. He wasn’t sure if Edelgard was joking, but she sounded deadly serious.

“You heard me,” Edelgard said pointedly, looking at the two boys. “If she doesn’t want to cooperate, then we just need to pick her up and carry her. I’m not showing up to this competition where the other cabins are going to all be present just to be  _ humiliated again _ .”

Hubert shrugged, climbing slightly up into the bunk and grabbing Bernadetta’s arm. He began to pull her down and she kicked her legs wildly, nearly missing Dorothea’s face.

“Edie, this is mean!” she insisted, but Hubert had gotten her halfway out of the bed.

“Ferdinand,” he said and the previously-sulking Ferdinand rushed forward to catch the other half of Bernadetta.

And to everyone’s horror; they had gotten Bernie out of bed.

“I think she’s hyperventilating.” Caspar’s eyes were wide as he climbed down. The girl  _ had _ gotten strangely quiet, she was mostly obscured by all of her bedding, anyways. 

“Someone get Linhardt, we are going to breakfast as a cabin, do we understand?” Edelgard asked, her tone harsh. Everyone in the room straightened up, not used to her taking charge or demanding anything out of them.

“I’ll get him,” Hubert said. “Here.” He nearly dropped Bernadetta into Caspar’s arms who barely caught her in time.

“What the fuck?!” Caspar cursed, making sure that her torso didn’t slip away. Ferdinand had her feet and was frowning at the situation, still upset that he wasn’t chosen for the competition.

“Out the door, let’s go.” Edelgard clapped and everyone trudged out of the cabin. Ferdinand and Caspar were in charge of carrying the limp body, accidentally hitting her on the turn to get out into the mud room. 

“Is she okay?” Petra asked Dorothea, the two girls trailing at the back of the parade. Hubert now had a death-grip on Linhardt’s wrist, leading him half asleep with his own blanket pulled around him like a cloak. “It doesn’t appear to be right.”

Dorothea frowned. “You might be right about that one, Petra,” she said. She had to admit, she was worried about how silent Bernedetta was. The girl must have been terrified beyond belief to stop her usual screaming. “I hope Bern holds up.”

Well, she  _ almost _ held up.

Just as they approached the outside of the dining hall in various states of sanity, Bernadetta kicked hard and her foot connected with Ferdinand’s wrist. He cursed, dropping the bottom half of her body and she used it as an opening to twist out of Caspar’s grip with some well-timed flailing.

She was about to take off when Edelgard stood in her path, arms crossed. Bernadetta flinched. The woman looked downright murderous and was glaring at her with such an intensity that she had never seen in her life.

“Bernadetta von Varley, I swear to the Goddess you are going to walk into that dining hall and have breakfast or you will never sleep again as long as I am around.” Her voice was barely raised, but all of the Black Eagles felt a shiver down their spine.

“Oh, Edie,” Dorothea said quietly, shaking her head. Even Ferdinand, who was still clutching his wrist stood silent as Edelgard fumed.

Bernadetta stared back, eyes wide open, but she stayed still. “Yes, Edelgard.” She whimpered, turning and walking towards the dining hall. Linhardt gathered her blankets from the ground to add to his own collection and walked in, followed by the others.

Edelgard was about to join when she heard slow clapping behind her. She turned to see Byleth standing, watching with her hair up in a ponytail and her sunglasses on.

“See, I knew you had it in you.” Byleth walked past her. “Good job, Edelgard.”

* * *

“Do you shoot animals, or not-animals?” Petra asked Bernadetta as she lagged behind the group on the way to the shooting range. It was a shady path that could be steep in some areas and led away from the dining hall and cabins. The Black Eagles hiked up right after breakfast in hopes of getting to the range before any of the other cabins did—they knew that Bernadetta would never settle enough to practice if the others were watching.

“Oh, I—” Bernie wasn’t expecting for someone to talk to her. She was walking with her head down, scared that the whole cabin was mad at her. Well, Ferdinand was most definitely mad. He kept clutching at his wrist and lamenting his inability to participate in the archery competition. Edelgard was also definitely mad, she had been silent throughout breakfast. Caspar had bruises forming on his arms, but he looked more concerned than anything.

“Do you kill animals when you shoot?” Petra asked again. “Hunt.”

“I don’t, uh, kill animals.” Bernie shook her head. She missed her blankets, but Linhardt had bundled himself in all of them and didn’t look like he planned to give them back. Instead, she was left with only her sweatshirt to protect her from the cold, harsh world.

“Oh, I kill animals.” Petra nodded. “Me and my family go to hunt. I have understanding that you shoot for a team?”

“Yes, I,” Bernie was trying to force herself to stop shaking,  _ she could do this, she could have a conversation _ , “we have an archery team at my high school. I’m pretty okay.”

“Pretty okay?” Bernadetta yelped when Edelgard seemingly appeared behind her. “Didn’t you place in state levels?”

“Yes,” she lowered her head, doing her best to not run away from the scary woman, “but I get nervous… I… I don’t want you to kill me.”

“It’s okay, you’re going to do fine,” Dorothea assured. “And if you don’t, no one is going to kill you. We just don’t win and we can all move on.” She sent a pointed glance to Edelgard.

“Oh. Ooo-woo,” Petra said solemnly, nodding.

“I’m sorry what?” Edelgard raised her eyebrows. It was possible that she had misheard her, it happened frequently, but at this point she had no clue what was being said.

“It has the meaning of ‘I love you,’” she explained. “Or, that is not the meaning. The word of that meaning is ‘rawr-x-d,’” she corrected.

“Petra, honey, who told you that.” Dorothea shook her head. “It’s not a curse this time, but people will make fun of you.”

“Caspar gave me the information.”

“I’ll be right back.” Dorothea smiled and picked up speed towards Caspar, who took off running.

“I have knowledge of some bad words because of Caspar,” Petra explained to Bernie.

“I remember.” Bernadetta smiled—a small smile, but one nonetheless—because someone was taking the time to talk to her and not through climbing onto her bed while she was doing her best to be invisible.

By the time they got to the archery range, Linhardt found a clear spot on the ground and dissolved into a pile of blankets. Caspar and Dorothea had beaten the rest of the group up to the training area, both clearly out of breath. Thankfully, there was no one there practicing yet, so hopefully they had enough time to get Bernadetta comfortable with the idea.

“It’s truly unfortunate that you kicked me, Bernadetta.” She almost screamed as Ferdinand approached her. He was now nursing his wrist with an ice pack that was usually reserved for a child’s lunchbox. “I was going to bring our cabin to victory, so you wouldn’t have to.”

“No, you wouldn’t have.” Edelgard looked like she was going to punch the man if he spoke again. “We would have let Petra try.”

“Well, then challenge me.” He swept his good arm dramatically. “I am  _ sure _ I can take  _ you _ down even with this grievous injury.”

Edelgard didn’t respond. She just said, “Hubert.”

Hubert swooped in from the shadows and dragged Ferdinand away, his complaining slowly fading as Hubert made him sit next to Linhardt to ‘rest.’

“Okay,” Edelgard called attention from the few other cabin mates that were still listening. “The plan is that Petra and Caspar will help Bernadetta get ready and set up her targets, the rest of us will be as quiet and as non-distracting as possible.” Her point was only emphasized by Ferdinand yelling as Hubert purposefully dug into his injured wrist. 

“Me? Why me?” Caspar asked. “I get Petra, but why me?”

“You like training and running around, congrats, you can retrieve arrows,” Edelgard announced. “Please show Bernadetta to the shed so she can choose what bow to use; thank you.”

Caspar muttered  _ thank you, my ass _ under his breath as Edelgard walked to sit under a shaded tree with Dorothea.

“Caspar can get arrows. Do you want me to watch or also participate?”

“Also practicing would be nice,” Bernie muttered. She forced herself to take a deep breath. It wasn’t too bad with just the three of them, especially when Petra was nice enough to give her a choice. She could still feel Edelgard shooting daggers of glares at her, but she suspected she already did that all the time.

Caspar showed them the shed where the various archery equipment was stored. Bernie took her time selecting the bow she wanted to use and putting guards on. She helped Petra with the equipment, not saying much except to suggest which ones she should use. She was grateful that they weren’t talking too much as they helped her set up the proper targets.

“Dorothea, I have a question,” Edelgard said after the woman leaned on her shoulder as they sat in the shade. She made sure to keep her voice down enough that the boys wouldn’t be able to overhear.

“You’re asking  _ me _ a question?” Dorothea feigned shock. “You actually want my help?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you are a lot?”

“Everyday, sweetheart.” Dorothea sat up. “What’s on your mind?”

“Well, when we were getting Bernadetta into the dining hall, after we all went in Byleth said I did a good job,” Edelgard explained. “She called me by my name, too. Not my last name.”

“That is interesting.” Dorothea hummed. “But, why does that matter to you?”

“Oh, well, um.” She fidgeted where she was sitting and Dorothea’s smile glowed radiantly. “Shut up.”

“You useless lesbian.”

“Leave me alone.” Edelgard huffed.

“You asked  _ me _ for advice.” Dorothea took her hands into her own. “It’s okay to have a crush,  _ but _ do you think this is really a good one? Byleth has a mean streak.”

“It’s not a crush,” Edelgard said. “I just don’t know how to feel about her calling me by my name all of the sudden.”

“Please be careful, Edie,” was all she had to offer. Dorothea herself was queer, but she worried about Edelgard looking up to Byleth like this. Sure, Dorothea had helped her figure out her own queerness, but she worried that Edelgard would get hurt. She honestly didn’t know better.

“Your wrist is fine, stop whining.” Hubert growled at Ferdinand, who hadn’t stopped whimpering and complaining since he had gotten kicked.

“I need to go check that it’s not broken,” he insisted.

“It’s not broken,” Linhardt said, looking at the wrist and frowning. “It  _ might _ be a sprain, but even that is doubtful.”

Ferdinand dramatically threw himself onto Linhardt’s (and Bernadetta’s) blankets, furthering the disgust on Linhardt’s face.

While the campers were keeping themselves somewhat occupied, Bernie was growing comfortable with the shooting range. She watched as Caspar retrieved her arrows and helped Petra with her own shooting.

Petra was really good—much better than expected—but she still found small things to correct in her stance and how she aimed. Bernie realized while instructing her that this was the most they had exchanged words in the past month of living together. She had been sleeping above Petra this entire time, but never had a full conversation.

“You look powerful,” Petra said as she watched Bernie shoot off another round of arrows into the target. “Bernie is powerful.”

“Not really.” She laughed nervously as Caspar retrieved the arrows, wrenching them out of the target. “I’ve just been practicing for a long time.”

Bernie could tell that it wasn’t real practice. There was no one pressuring her to continue shooting and she had ample time in between each shot. By lunch break, her arms were barely burning from the exercise, but she was used to being around the others.

They didn’t leave for lunch, rather Dorothea and Hubert went down to the dining hall and grabbed sandwiches for everyone. They sat in the shade under the trees, mostly in silence. Bernie flinched when some members of the Golden Deer cabin showed up and watched as Claude and Ignatz began to practice. She could feel her body tense up. How could she go back over there? Scratch that—how could she shoot at the targets with everyone watching? She realized that she was forgetting to breathe. 

“Hey, Bernadetta.” She was surprised when Caspar poked her knee. “I’m sure you want to rest up before the competition, but would you like to show me how to shoot a bow?”

“Oh, I... “ she took a deep breath, “sure.”

When Bernie had finished eating (Caspar had finished long before her) he helped her up and they made their way back to the range. The cabin leader from Golden Deer waved to her, but she just put her head down.

“It’s okay,” Caspar said. “I won’t let them do anything to you.”

It felt like a dumb promise, but Bernie was grateful. She helped Caspar get into the gear and showed him the proper way to hold the bow.

“Bernadetta—”

“Bernie,” she corrected, before realizing that she may have been rude. “I’m sorry.”

“Nah, it’s alright.” Caspar shrugged, copying the stance that she used when shooting. “Any particular reason?”

“I just prefer it.” She suddenly got shy, not wanting to put it into words. It didn’t sound extraordinarily feminine like when it was her full name. She liked that.

“That’s cool.” He nodded. “Am I doing okay?”

Bernie smiled and Caspar smiled back.

* * *

Edelgard would have liked to say that her plan to calm Bernadetta and win the archery competition was a success, but by the time that all the campers from the three cabins had gathered, she looked like she was going to run away at any opportunity.

“Bernie looks like prey,” Petra told Edelgard, fiddling with the end of her braid. “Are you affirmative that she should participate?”

“She’s our only chance,” Edelgard insisted.

Dorothea was doing her best to distract Bernie, but she could see that she wasn’t focusing on anything. She was shrinking away from the others, especially when Claude began to circle around to ‘check out the competition.’

“You guys all came on time,” Byleth said as she walked up. She hopped up onto a tree stump that was nearby and took out her megaphone. “Quiet down, we have to get through some shit before the assho—Seteth—gets here.”

That earned a few snickers from the crowd.

“Who will be participating from each cabin?”

“Me!” Ashe raised his hand and stepped forward.

Edelgard nudged Bernie, but she didn’t say anything. “Bernadetta,” Edelgard announced instead.

“And for the Golden Deer, I shall bring home the points.” Claude stepped in front of his cabin. They all began to chant  _ Claude, Claude, Claude! _ Like some kind of cult.

Hubert rolled his eyes. He happened to know that Claude was unparalleled in his archery skills and realized that it was hardly fair. At the very least Bernadetta didn’t know that.

“Okay, so we have von Varley, Ubert and,” Byleth looked at Claude, before frowning and pointing further into the crowd, “Victor. I want to see the small nerds fight it out.”

“The small…” Ashe chose not to argue.

“Oh no,” Bernie said, shrinking further towards Dorothea. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“You’re going to do fine,” she assured with a smile. “You just need to do your best.”

“Hey, Arnault,” Byleth said into the megaphone. “I’m fucking talking, are you done?”

“Sorry!” Dorothea called back with a wave.

“That’s what I thought,” Byleth said.

“You said Byleth wasn’t scary,” Bernie whispered.

“Bern, I said she wouldn’t  _ kill you _ . And she won’t.”

The campers turned when they heard a golf cart engine behind them. Out stepped Seteth, who was, as per usual, dressed much more formally than anyone should be at a summer camp. He was also wearing shades, like Byleth, but took them off when he stepped out of the cart. None of the campers saw him around much, but it was clear that Byleth wasn’t a fan.

Byleth jumped off from her perch and gave an exaggerated smile. “Hello, Seteth. We’re all ready to get this competition started.”

“No, no, no,” Bernie muttered and Petra tried to comfort her.

“Well, I am glad that  _ you _ are ready, Byleth.” Seteth frowned as Byleth stood next to him. “Is it just me, or do your campers not look… thrilled?”

“No, they’re very happy to be here. All they’ve been talking about the last three days,” she assured.

“You told us this morning?” Ferdinand asked, but thankfully Seteth didn’t hear.

“I will ask them.” Seteth addressed the campers, “Are you all here because you want to be?”

Byleth stood behind Seteth and lowered her glasses enough that they could all see the piercing glare she was giving them. She nodded exaggeratedly and all of the campers followed suit.

“Of course,” Edelgard nodded, “everyone is so excited.”

“It’s such a big difference from the last month,” Dimitri added.

“I’m very excited to see who wins.” Claude gave one of his blinding grins.

“Very well,” Seteth said. “And who are the representatives for each cabin?”

Linhardt scoffed at how formal the man was being over an unofficial archery competition. The whole thing was ridiculous, but it was almost over. Soon, he could return back to bed.

“It’s von Va—I mean,” Byleth puzzled a moment, trying to recall any of her campers’  _ first names _ , “Bernadetta, and er… Ashe, and… “

“Ignatz,” he helpfully added.

“And Ignatz,” Byleth agreed.

“The rules are as follows:”

Any of the Black Eagles would have loved to say they listened to the rules, but they were all too busy trying to calm Bernie down without drawing attention to themselves.

“Bernadetta, please, it is not that big of a deal.” Edelgard sighed. “It’s not the end of the world.”

“Have a little sympathy, would you?” Bernie was glad to hear at least  _ someone _ defend her. “You’re kind of a jerk, did you know that?”

Edelgard frowned. “I’m just trying to help her—”

“You’re not.” Caspar stood his ground. He could feel the anger rising just at the thought of how they all had been treating Bernie the past month. No one, including himself, had truly attempted to reach out. “You’re doing this so you can get the points.”

“Guys,” Linhardt hissed. And jabbed a finger behind them.

They turned to see Seteth staring silently at them and Byleth behind him, looking like she was about to commit murder.

“Is something terribly wrong?” Seteth asked. “Did you hear the instructions?”

“Absolutely.” Ferdinand nodded, even though it was clear that he had spent the time watching the others bicker.

“Good.” Seteth continued, “First up is the Golden Deer.”

Everyone drifted towards the range, the Black Eagles lagging behind the rest. Byleth appeared among them and she wasn’t happy. “You guys need to fucking behave. You are making a fool out of yourselves  _ and _ me.”

“What did you expect?” Linhardt yawned.

“Minus twenty.”

“Really, Lin?” Dorothea rubbed her temples.

None of them paid much attention to the first two contestants, instead they were all trying to pacify Bernie into actually participating. She felt like a deer frozen in headlights by the time Seteth called, “Black Eagles.”

“I can’t do it.” Bernadetta was close to screaming. “Please? I can’t do it.”

Hubert of all people dragged Bernie close to where she had to stand while the campers from the other cabins were watching in horror that they were literally forcing her to go through with the competition. Well, if it was up to Hubert he could use… more drastic measures, but Edelgard didn’t want to hurt the scared girl.

Bernie felt like she was going to die, but she stood at the marked area and tried to take a deep breath. She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the crowd of people watching her, but then realized that she couldn’t see the target with her eyes closed. She was about to give up when she heard someone chanting.

“Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!” She turned to see Caspar yelling as loud as he could, drawing the attention from her and to him instead.

Petra caught on. “Bernie! Bernie!”

Soon enough, the entire Black Eagles cabin was chanting her name—even Linhardt who had been asleep just recently. They were dragging away everyone's attention; even Byleth looked like she was turning on her megaphone to yell at them to shut up.

Bernie took a deep breath, drawing the bow.  _ You can do this Bernie, just three shots and then you can go back to the cabin and not talk to anyone again for a month _ . She fired the next three shots as fast as she could, not stopping to consider that maybe she should go about it carefully. She just wanted it to be over.

Everyone faded into silence as the third arrow lodged itself into the target—the third arrow to hit a bullseye.

“Oh my Goddess,” she said, dropping the bow and looking in horror to the crowd of people staring open-mouthed at her. She looked at her two opponents, both equally shocked. “Please don’t kill me.” She whimpered.

“She did it!” Caspar was smiling, running towards her to congratulate her.

“Well, it looks like the winner is Bernadetta of the Black Eagles,” Seteth announced, though he looked pretty shocked as well that the shaking girl had managed a perfect score. Even Edelgard smiled at  _ that _ announcement. She grinned at Byleth, mouthing ‘plus one hundred points.’

Bernie was overwhelmed as her cabin rushed her, but it was comforting to have Caspar at her side. Ferdinand, however, was going on about how he  _ guessed _ it was good that he got hurt after all.

“We must properly celebrate our victor,” he said.

Caspar and Ferdinand each took one side of her, even as she yelled, “No, don’t pick me up!”

And as they attempted to hoist her into the air for the second time that day, Bernie got them both with a solid right cross.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look, the Black Eagles have the most to learn about things like respect and I promise they will... give characters time to grow ;)


	3. A Fish on the Hook is Worth Three Cabin Mates in the Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I say we stab Sylvain, wrap him in a net and keep him underwater. At the least we can lure some sharks,” Felix said, mining the stabbing action with the single spear.
> 
> “What?” Sylvain looked horrified.
> 
> “I don’t think there’s sharks in this lake,” Dedue said.
> 
> “That’s your objection?!” Sylvain looked around pleading.
> 
> “It could work,” Mercedes said with a laugh, only sending Sylvain further into an existential dread.
> 
> Dimitri plans on leading his cabin to victory, even if it takes wrangling all of them to the docks early in the morning for a fishing competition. Will they be able to catch a win, or will they be left feeling like fish out of water?
> 
> Black Eagles: -80  
Blue Lions: -12  
Golden Deer: 85

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning for implied/mentioned sex with no on-page description.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

One would be led to believe that having a cabin where half of the members were childhood friends would be beneficial—or perhaps have an advantage over the other cabins who were only one month into their newfound relationships.

Not when one of the said childhood friends was busy trading away top secret plans for gaining points away in return for sexual favors. If the trust fund kids had learned anything from being surrounded by rich people all their lives, this was a considerable strategy for the Black Eagles. One that they wouldn’t fall for… unless… 

“This whole points business is nothing but a lot of bullshit.” Dorothea laughed as she tugged her pants back on. “And our Edie is taking it  _ so _ seriously? How about Dimitri?”

“I think he’s scared of Byleth.” Sylvain returned the laugh. The pool showers were creepy at night, but it was better than just a random spot off in the woods. He had to admit that talking to Dorothea had been his favorite part of the whole evening. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but anything sexual didn’t feel  _ right _ . He had his eyes on this woman since they arrived at camp and it was  _ good _ . It just wasn’t right. “He is taking it seriously, though.”

He began to tell the story of the hiking boots and how he had to climb the tree to get them down. He omitted, of course, the parts where Ingrid had to rescue him. Dorothea laughed at all the right places. Sylvain knew that he had hit it off with her the very first week. It was only a matter of time before they got to this point.

“Excited for the fishing tournament tomorrow?” Dorothea asked. “I’m not confident that any of us know how to fish, except maybe Petra.”

“None of us are great, but we have a plan,” Sylvain announced.

“Oh? Care to share? Edelgard was just going to make sure we were up early to get first dibs on the fishing gear.”

“Good luck with that.” Sylvain laughed. “Dimitri is having us get up at six a.m. to get the equipment. There’s not a lot, so I don’t know why Byleth thinks we can all go fishing at once.”

“Oh wow, that’s insane.” Dorothea smiled, a certain glint in her eyes. She was tying her shoes, getting ready to head back to her cabin for the night. “Best of luck with that.”

“Thank you,” Sylvain said. He was honestly sad to see Dorothea go. They were having such a nice time chatting. Oh, and the sex, he guessed. “This was nice, maybe another time, beautiful?”

Dorothea smiled. “Of course, Sylvain.”

* * *

“Where is all the fishing gear?” Dimitri asked, clearly shocked that someone had beat them to it. The sun was rising over the lake, and in the shed there was not a single rod left: just a bunch of buckets and a couple of nets. “How did someone get here before us?”

“Did someone overhear the plan?” Annette suggested. “Ugh, I knew we should have gotten up earlier!”

“Did we leave Sylvain behind?” Ingrid asked, looking around for the man. She usually got up this early, anyways, but it was nice to have company. They may have been better off without Sylvain, but he was more of a threat off somewhere with no one to supervise him than with his cabin.

“He wouldn’t wake up, so we’re just going to let him get a couple more hours,” Ashe said. He was digging through the shed, beginning to make a pile of anything useful. Their best bets were a few nets of various sizes, buckets, and a… spear? He wasn’t sure that would exactly come in handy, but he tossed it onto the dock.

“He woke me up coming in at three in the morning.” Felix huffed. “I think he fell down a couple of rungs on the ladder with all the clambering.”

“Oh, I do recall that,” Dimitri said. “There was a lot of cursing.”

“There’s Seteth,” Dedue called back the conversation. “I will go ask him about the equipment.”

Sure enough, Seteth was walking towards the fishing dock, checking something off of his clipboard.

“Excuse me. We’re here early to get some of the fishing rods for today’s competition, but there appears to be none left,” Dedue said, in hopes that he kept spares somewhere else at the camp. He didn’t care personally for yet another point competition, but Dimitri was set on trying to earn more. They had been hovering around zero for the past week since it was instituted, but never quite going anywhere too high in the positives. Byleth had been taking points off whenever Dimitri spoke, which was slowly driving him insane. Sylvain also got points off for ‘looking too long’ at the counselor, but that was fair. Annette and Ashe were earning points left and right, trying their hardest to maintain any amount that wasn’t zero. Dedue knew that it was upsetting Dimitri more than he would care to admit, so this was supposed to be their chance to get back in the running.

“It warms my heart that you are all so invested in Flayn’s fishing competition.” Seteth almost had a smile, looking up to the camper. “Unfortunately, we do not have any other rods. The Black Eagles were quite eager and cleared out the shed this morning at dawn.”

Dedue frowned deeply. He couldn’t rule out foul play on this one. It all just seemed too perfect that the Black Eagles would beat them to the lake, regardless of how early they got up. That cabin in particular enjoyed their fifteen minutes of fame when they won the archery competition, but dipped right back into the negative points within twenty four hours. They weren’t good at keeping the points and every meal they appeared to be sinking.

“Are you sure there are no more?” Dedue asked and Seteth shook his head.

“There’s other more traditional ways of fishing to try,” Seteth assured. “It will be a good exercise in patience.”

Dedue thanked the man and returned to his cabin mates. “No luck, this will have to do.”

“Really?” Felix scowled, looking like he was considering going after the man as he walked away. “How does he expect us to fish like this?”

“We could Youtube how to fish with the nets?” Annette suggested, picking one up and holding it to see how long it was. She wasn’t really a good reference, considering how small she was.

“None of us have phones,” Dimitri pointed out. It was easy to forget sometimes that they lacked such a modern convenience. Apparently part of the Garreg Mach mission statement was to connect them back to nature, which banned them from having any electronics.

“It was a good idea, Annie,” Mercedes assured, though she was looking troubled at the nets as well. “For now, we have to be grateful we’re not the Golden Deer, they’ll have nothing.”

“Don’t feel too bad.” Ingrid sighed. “How many points are they up to now anyways? It has to be around eighty.”

“It was eighty five last night,” Ashe added. “Don’t give up guys, I’m sure there’s still something we can do with this stuff.”

“Give it up,” Felix said, his tone as icy as the breeze coming off of the lake. “Why can’t you all just accept that Byleth is playing favorites? We’re not going to get ahead.”

“What’s so bad about trying?” Annette asked, pouting. “We’ll never know if we don’t try.”

“No, we do know,” Felix argued. He didn’t know why he was getting so angry. Perhaps it was the fact that it was six in the morning and it was too cold to be around the lake in a t-shirt. Or maybe it was that everyone was so caught up on an arbitrary point system that was put in place just to mock them and force them to strive towards an unreachable goal. It was a waste of time.

“You don’t have to be mean about it.” Annette crossed her arms and Felix felt a pang of guilt. She truly was just trying to cheer them up, after all.

“Let’s gather the gear,” Mercedes suggested. “We can bring it with us to the dining hall for breakfast.”

“For breakfast?” Ashe asked.

“Mercedes is right.” Dimitri nodded. “I don’t believe it would be wise to leave it in our cabin. Not after what happened to our shoes.” There was an unspoken second reason of  _ we can’t let the Golden Deer get any of the gear _ . 

It proved to be the right decision, because by the time they returned to the docks for the official start of the tournament at eight a.m., the Golden Deer were going from person to person attempting to scrounge up favors.

“Dimitri!” Claude greeted, abandoning his attempts to ask the winner of the archery competition, Bernie, for her fishing rod. “How are you today, man?”

“You’re not getting any of our gear, I’m sorry,” Dimitri said. He genuinely did feel a little bad, but not  _ horrible  _ as he looked over to the Black Eagles each outfitted with their own fishing pole. El looked smug as they arrived with their hodgepodge of nets and buckets. “Your cabin has the most points, this is our best bet at getting back on the board.”

“Please, just one of the nets.” Claude smiled, tangling his fingers through the fishing net that the other cabin leader was holding. “I currently have Ignatz dangling a piece of yarn off the dock with bait tied to the end of it.”

“Sorry,” Dimitri said once more, stepping past Claude and onto the long dock.

Dorothea waved to Sylvain, her hair tied up into a bun that was threatening to fall. “Good morning.”

“Hello,” Sylvain smiled, “apparently your cabin beat us all to the fishing gear, isn’t that weird.”

“Yes, very weird.” Dorothea mirrored the smile. The short cabin leader frowned at the two of them, but kept her distance. “At least you were more fortunate than our  _ deer _ friends.” She laughed at her own pun and Sylvain joined.

“Stop flirting with the competition.” Ingrid materialized behind him, reaching up and pulling at his collar.

“Awh, where’s the fun in that, Ingrid,” Dorothea said. “Your hair is braided differently today, did someone else do it?”

“Actually, Annette did this morning.” Ingrid smiled before shaking her head. “Dorothea, I see what you’re doing.”

“I’m not doing anything.” She raised her hands in mock surrender. Sylvain felt a strange sort of relief that the attention was directed to the woman and not him.

“Don’t go after our weak link.” Ingrid pushed Sylvain towards the others so that Felix could help babysit him. “Have fun fishing.”

“Have fun with your nets.” Dorothea winked and her cabin leader audibly sighed.

“Hey, you don’t have to come for my game like that,” Sylvain insisted, batting away Ingrid’s arm. He had to uphold his reputation.

She only tightened her grip, leaning into the tall man. “Dorothea isn’t interested in you, she’s gay.”

“She’s not,” Sylvain said, thinking back to the prior night. Goddess, he was still tired despite sleeping in. It was too early for yet another Byleth-sponsored tournament.

“I have told you this before, but you cannot change a woman’s sexuality. Well, you might change it the  _ other way _ …”

“You are so mean.” Sylvain pouted, but quieted down when he saw Dimitri looking at him.

“We need a plan,” Dimitri said to the group when Sylvain had quieted down. “Any ideas?”

“Well, Mercie and I asked Seteth how to fish with a net and he gave us some tips!” Annette seemed excited. “There’s a couple of different methods we can try and they seem difficult, but it’s better than nothing!”

“Alright, that’s a good start. Thank you, Annette,” Dimitri said.

“I say we stab Sylvain, wrap him in a net and keep him underwater. At the least we can lure some sharks,” Felix said, mining the stabbing action with the single spear.

“What?” Sylvain looked horrified.

“I don’t think there’s sharks in this lake,” Dedue said.

“That’s your objection?!” Sylvain looked around pleading.

“It could work,” Mercedes said with a laugh, only sending Sylvain further into an existential dread.

“We don’t have to stab anyone,” Ashe assured, worried that Sylvain couldn’t tell that the others were joking… or at least he hoped they were joking. “We’re being provided bait.”

“When is this starting, anyways?” Felix asked, obviously disappointed that he wasn’t allowed to stab his friend standing next to him.

Ingrid looked around. “I assume whenever Byleth shows up.”

They didn’t have to wait long until she indeed did show up in the same golf cart as Seteth and his younger sister, Flayn. Flayn had also been attending the camp but wasn’t placed in one of Byleth's cabins. She seemed younger than the rest, but then again they all were so varied in age that it didn’t matter much.

“You didn’t have to do all of this for me,” Flayn insisted as she hopped out of the cart, but she did look very pleased with the turnout. “This is all quite embarrassing.”

“It’s nothing,” Seteth insisted, turning to address his campers. “Hello, all. Thank you for coming. This is my sister Flayn for those of you who don’t know her.”

She shied away but still waved at her fellow campers.

“Hello, Flayn!” Sylvain took a step forward and was about to say something else, but Seteth cut him off.

“Sylvain Jose Gautier, you will not come within ten feet of her.”

“Woah, I was just saying hello,” Sylvian insisted as Felix yanked him back. “No need to get upset.”

Byleth hopped off of the golf cart behind them, grabbing her fishing rod in the back. She had fishing boots on and donned a bucket hat. She was a woman who took fishing seriously, they would give her that. She finally produced the point board fresh from the dining hall. Where it stood, Blue Lions had -12, Black Eagles were at -80, and the Golden Deer were at a comfortable 85.

“Good morning, kiddos,” she greeted and for once she had a wide smile on her face. Dimitri knew it all had to do with the fishing and  _ not  _ with seeing them. “Cabin that catches the most fish gets um,” she looked at the point board that she had produced, “we’ll do a nice fifty points.”

“Now, most of the fish in this lake are not big enough to eat,” Seteth picked up, “but this is about the  _ experience _ . We will try to wrap up at dinner time.”

“When are we supposed to eat?” Ashe, ever the voice of reason, asked Annette.

“I’m sure some of us can just go and pick up sandwiches or whatever.” She shrugged.

“Please make sure to include Flayn in the activities,” Seteth said. “She enjoys fishing.”

“Big brother!” she insisted, but Byleth threw an arm over the girl.

“Don’t worry, we got her,” she said in a way that made all of the campers  _ definitely worry _ . “I want y'all to do your best. This is a competition. There are no friends.” Seteth looked over to her, concerned. “Correction: your cabin mates are your friends.”

“Best of luck, please ask if you have any questions,” Seteth concluded.

“Okay.” Annette clapped her hands together. “Mercie, want to explain the different methods we found?”

Mercedes explained to the group the plan for the nets while the Black Eagles cabin all got to cast their lines and began to wait for the fish to bite. Felix chose not to listen intently. He didn’t like getting scammed into yet another useless competition for points. It was already too uselessly early for this kind of bullshit.

They cast the net into the water and hoped that by some sort of string of coincidences it would be pulled up filled with fish.

There was no such luck.

“Well, we do have all day to try.” Dimitri’s assurance was met with several groans.

“I don’t want to be  _ that person _ ,” Sylvain started, “but can we quit while we’re ahead?”

“Ahead in what?” Felix asked.

“Our sanity?” Ashe suggested.

“Bold of you to assume anyone at this camp is sane,” Felix said.

“We don’t need to fight.” Dimitri tried to quiet the boys down, but they continued to bicker among themselves.

“Hey!” Ingrid shouted and everyone went quiet. She smiled at Dimitri, who was thankful she was around to wrangle their friends. “It’s not the end of the world, we can just spend the day fishing and maybe we won’t get fish. But all Seteth and Byleth want us to do is try, so can we do that at the very least?”

“Fine.” Felix huffed, not willing to argue with the girl. “Should I go ask Claude about his yarn?”

“Goddess, stop being so negative.” Annette stopped her foot at Felix. “How about we take the boats out if we can? No one else seems to be trying that so maybe we can catch some fish out there.”

“That’s a good suggestion.” Dimitri sighed in relief that at least some people were on his side.

“I also think we should ask Byleth for help,” Mercedes spoke up, pointing over where the counselor seemed to be having the best day of her life. “I don’t think she can say no to teaching us if Seteth is in listening range.”

“You might be right about that one,” Ingrid said. She took charge easily in a way that made Dimitri jealous. “Okay, how about we split half and half, who wants to come in the boats with me?”

They voted with hand raises and soon enough Ingrid, Annette, Dedue, and Felix were on their way to the canoes while Dimitri, Sylvain, Mercedes, and Ashe approached Byleth with the cheesiest smiles that they could manage.

“Byleth!” Dimitri called out, making sure that Seteth was in range of the conversation. She was already frowning before he even made his suggestion. He had to admit that he was scared at that moment, but it was comforting to realize that maybe she couldn’t do anything around her supervisor.

“What? I’m fishing.”

“We’re fishing, too!” Ashe said loudly and that was enough for a suspicious look to pass across Byleth’s face. “We’re having a difficult time figuring out how to use the net—you know since all of the fishing rods were taken this morning—and we were wondering if you could show us how?”

“Ubert, you have to be fucking kidding me.” She lowered her voice, glancing over towards Seteth. “Just because another cabin got the fishing rods, doesn’t mean you can ruin my fishing time.”

“But, Byleth,” Sylvain followed suit, talking loudly. Mercedes could see that they were beginning to catch the director’s attention, as well as the attention of some of the other campers. Dorothea was snickering from where she was sitting with Edelgard and Raphael was pointing the scene out to the other Golden Deer. Perfect. 

“Is there a problem?” Seteth joined them at the end of the dock.

“There is no problem,” Byleth assured and shot a vicious glance towards her campers, but for once they didn’t find it threatening.

“We were asking if Byleth could teach us how to use the net!” Ashe piped up.

“We’ve been having a lot of difficulties,” Mercedes explained further, holding up the wet net. “And since we know that Byleth is so good at fishing… “

“I don’t see why you won’t help your campers.” Seteth frowned. “They are asking so nicely.”

“I wasn’t  _ not _ helping them,” Byleth insisted, but Dimitri could sense her hesitation. “I was just telling them to wait a moment.”

“If that is the case, I will leave you be.” Seteth seemed satisfied with the answer and returned to babying his younger sister.

“Minus ten, assholes.” She crossed her arms.

“To be fair, we have no clue how to catch fish with this.” Sylvain motioned towards the net. “If you had cared enough to make sure that everyone had gotten the same amount of resources, things would have been different.”

“Minus another five, now get over here and I’ll show you.”

Byleth dragged her students to the other end of the dock, towards where the Black Eagles were relaxing with the proper equipment. She gave a dramatization of how to cast the net—very similar to what they had already tried—and made them pull it in.

“But there’s still nothing in the net.” Ashe frowned.

“Welcome to fishing, Ubert.” Byleth motioned agrily.

“I still don’t see how we can fish like this,” Dimitri insisted. His voice was raising again and Seteth was looking skeptically towards them.

“If you stop fucking whining and let me fish, I’ll let you borrow my spare rod,” Byleth finally relented, bending under the pressure. 

“Yes, please,” Ashe said.

Byleth muttered something about them being ungrateful brats, but she got up and returned to the golf cart. She left her bucket hat on the dock, where Dorothea immediately snatched it up. “Finders keepers,” she teased, shaking the hat at Sylvain. She attempted to put it in her hair, but it snagged on the bun. Instead, she plopped the hat on the cabin leader, who seemed confused by the action.

“Awh, you look cute, Edie,” Dorothea cooed. Byleth was on her way back with both of the fishing rods. “Byleth, doesn’t our darling look adorable?”

Dimitri couldn’t help but notice that Byleth’s face softened when Edelgard looked back at her. It was gone in a moment, when she snatched the hat back and placed it back where it belonged.

“Here you go, your majesty.” She handed him the pole. “Break it and I break you.”

“That’s fair,” Dimitri said. He looked out to the two canoes that were in the middle of the lake. He truly hoped that they were doing better than they were on land.

It was extremely wishful thinking, considering they managed to sink a net to the bottom of the lake with no way of retrieving it.

“Oh! So you needed these things!” Annette held up the floats. Felix sighed from the other side of the boat. “What? You didn’t tell me that we needed them, either.”

“I assumed that you would know that.” Felix was being as grumpy as ever, considering Annette didn’t help them row out onto the lake. He crossed his arms, practically sinking into the canoe. “If we throw  _ all _ the nets like that, we can be done even sooner.”

“Hey, cut it Felix,” Ingrid called from the other boat. Her and Dedue were still attempting to untie the pile of nets that they had. Dedue was frowning as he held them up, easily more of the ropes were knotted than free. “Annette didn’t know, leave her be.”

“Yeah.” Annette huffed. She was glad that Ingrid was standing up for her. It was a bit strange at first to share a room with Ingrid, especially since Annette and Mercedes had been friends for several years. She fit in well with them, even if she did prefer to hang out with the boys.

“We just need to keep trying,” Ingrid assured, but she, too, held her half of the nets up in one tangled blob. “Well, our one net that we had free is now at the bottom of the lake.”

“I’ll come help!” Annette offered, taking the oar from off the floor of the boat and rowing it towards the other one.

“Really?” Felix groaned as the metal of the two clanked together. “You’re going to knock us all into the water.”

“That’s not going to happen.” Annette hopped between the boats confidentially, pushing Felix’s away with the force. “I’m fine—woah!”

She screamed as she lost her balance, toppling towards the water. Both Ingrid and Dedue made a grab for her, miraculously sending enough weight to the side of the boat that they tipped the canoe.

Annette came up laughing, but Dedue frowned as they tread water in all their clothes and shoes.

“Our nets…” Ingrid trailed off.

“Oh no!” Annette began to frantically grab at them and make sure they didn’t sink to the bottom like the rest.

The rest of the cabin frowned when they saw their cabin mates make the plunge into the water.

Ashe was watching the Golden Deer attempt to make fish traps in the sand. He had done it as a child as well—digging holes on the shore of the lake in a way that the fish could easily swim in, but not as easily back out. He had to hand it to the cabin. For it being filled with fools, they sure were resourceful. They had yet to catch a single fish on their side of the dock, while the Black Eagles seemed to be reeling them in every ten minutes or so.

One of the counselors from the other cabin groups was wandering near the edge of the dock, wearing a maxi-dress with an unreasonably high slit up the leg. She was chatting with Seteth, but her eyes lit up and she zoned in on Byleth.

“Manuela,” Byleth groaned, not getting up from lying down on the dock (she had given up on waiting for Dimitri to catch a fish), “please not now.”

“I was just thinking,” Manuela continued anyways, “that we haven’t had much time to get to know each other. Now that you are running around with the children, I’ve been seeing you so much more.”

“Get on with it,” Byleth mumbled and Dimitri tried not to laugh at the counselor’s reactions. Manuela also filled in at the camp’s infirmary. She was quite an… interesting person. She tended to pass out condoms behind Seteth’s back after his ‘don’t have sex ever’ lecture.

“Let’s head out this weekend on our break day. Get some drinks.”

“I will be busy getting rid of the constant headache from babysitting, sorry,” Byleth said, blocking the sun from her eyes with her hands.

“Why don’t you want to get drinks with me?”

“I just told you.”

“Are you worried that your dad is going to find out?” Manuela asked, drawing the attention of the other Blue Lions. “I won’t tell him, dear Byleth.”

“Manuela, it’s not happening.” She was practically whining, which the others found amusing as all hell. There was something so satisfying about watching Byleth get kicked off of her pedestal.

“I’m just going to keep asking, it’s important to form bonds with your coworkers, you know?” Manuela seemed to also be having a good time. “How about we’ll head out at around seven on Saturday?”

“I can’t drink, Manuela.” Byleth sat up on the dock, clearly beginning to get fed up. “I’m nineteen.”

“You’re what?!” Dimitri couldn’t stop himself.

“Ah, fuck,” Byleth said, clearly realizing the amount of respect she just lost from the campers in two words.

“I’m older than you?” Sylvain frowned. “I’m twenty, I’m literally older than you.”

“I’m twenty three,” Mercedes added. “Byleth, I didn’t know that you were so young. You act very maturely.”

Judging by the look on her face, Byleth was cycling through all the stages of grief at once. She didn’t even have the sense to be deducting points from the cabin who was currently making fun of her.

“Oh, so  _ you’re _ legal?” Manuela turned to Mercedes. “Would you like to go get drinks with me this weekend, then? You’re interested in medical studies, right?”

“That sounds lovely, is that allowed?”

“As long as Byleth isn’t going to tell.”

“I’m not a snitch,” Byleth insisted. “Go wherever the fuck you would like.”

“Thank you, darling.” Manuela smiled, clearly pleased with the chaos she had brought.

“Byleth is… baby?” Sylvain asked in a clearly mocking tone.

Dimitri had to admit that he didn’t  _ see _ Sylvain get shoved off the dock and into the water, but he did hear Byleth add as the man resurfaced, “Minus sixty points you manwhore.”

Everyone fell silent and chose not to comment on the woman’s age again. It  _ was _ quite entertaining. Dimitri knew that him and the others in his cabin were only sixteen to seventeen, meaning that Byleth would have been in the same high school as them. It was an entertaining prospect. 

As Manuela and Mercedes finalized their bar date for the weekend, Dimitri turned to Byleth and tried to not be upset that she had just tanked their score. “Thank you for teaching us how to fish.”

“Shut your mouth, Blaiddyd.”

He guessed that she appreciated the gesture because she didn’t subtract any further points as she lay on the dock, staring up at the sky. For the first time that day, there was a bite on the line. Dimitri jerked upwards, tightening the grip on his rod and beginning to reel it in. The fish protested with an:  _ ouch that hurts, Dimitri stop! _

Apparently, Dimitri had just snagged Sylvain, who must have been pushed directly onto where the line was cast.

“Maybe that will teach you to not run your mouth,” Byleth called out, lowering herself slightly off the dock so she could tap Sylvain’s head with her boot. 

“It wasn’t a fish…” Dimitri said quietly. He felt like he was going insane.

Ashe noticed, turning towards his cabin leader and cautiously asking if he was okay. Dimitri just shook his head and handed him the fishing rod, standing up on the dock.

Mercedes watched as Dimitri plucked the spear they had among the empty buckets as he hopped into the lake where the water was up to his ankles. There, smaller sun fish were swimming, enjoying their day and the warmth of the water.

Dimitri focused in on a few and thrust the spear forward, watching as all the fish scattered from the break in the water. He laughed. Of course they avoided him. Of course they did.

Ashe looked over after he helped Sylvain out of the water. “Is Dimitri okay?”

“I’m sure he’s… ah, that’s not great.” Sylvain trailed off as he watched his friend began to stab the water over and over again, attempting to spear the fish.

“KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM.” He could be heard throughout the lake as he tried so hard just to catch a single fish.

Perhaps it was needless to say, but the Black Eagles cabin won the fishing competition in the end.


	4. The Spirit of Ultimate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Any other complaints?” Byleth sighed. “I want this to be over.”
> 
> “Claude still won’t tell us the rules,” Lysithea offered.
> 
> “Well, that sucks.” Byleth produced a silver whistle out of her pocket and blew into it, everyone flinching at the sharp sound. “Start the game.”
> 
> Claude is not convinced that Ultimate Frisbee is a real sport, but there’s not much of a choice when Byleth is involved. Will they be able to pull it together and find teamwork hidden in the spirit of the game?
> 
> Black Eagles: -285  
Blue Lions: -45  
Golden Deer: 98

Ignatz really did like his cabin, truly.

He just wished they honored any other hobby than tennis.

He understood what it was like to enjoy something with a passion. At home, he would spend hours tucked away working on art. Ignatz loved the feeling of watching the piece progress, the different aspects and all the work culminating into something he was proud of.

That being said, they played too much dang tennis.

“Okay! That’s enough for today!” Claude finally said as he hit one more ball to Hilda. She received it, sending it back twice as hard, almost hitting Leonie as she was drinking her water. Igantz let out a sigh of relief. Garreg Mach did offer art supplies, it just wasn’t often that he had free time to make good use of them. Between Claude’s tennis (or sabotaging the other cabins—whatever he was feeling that day) and Byleth’s new demanding schedules, he barely had enough time to even sketch. His hands were yearning to just pick up a paint brush again.

“I really do think the whole tennis thing is fun,” Leonie frowned, appearing next to Ignatz as they began to pack up the gear, “but I wish we could do something else.”

“Well, I think this is the only way that Claude gets Hilda to show up to activities,” Ignatz said. He picked up some of the balls and returned them to the hopper, watching as Hilda dodged any sort of responsibility to pick up. “She stopped hanging out at the nurse’s office all day.”

“That’s just because her  _ girlfriend _ likes to watch her play.” Lysithia joined the conversation, swinging her racket aimlessly. If there had to be one person who was the most annoyed with the tennis thing—it would be her. “They share a bed now,  _ yuck _ . There’s two other people in the room.”

“They asked if we would be comfortable with it and we both said yes,” Leonie pointed out. “At least they’re respectful. Bernie told me that she woke up one night to Edelgard and Dorothea making out… now that would be a disaster.”

“Why is everyone at this camp gay?” Lorenz wondered out loud.

“Why are you gay?” Claude threw a tennis ball at his leg and watched as it bounced off gently.

“I’m bi, but fair question I guess.” Lorenz sighed. He picked up the ball that Claude threw—the last one on the court—and tossed it towards the hopper. It missed and Raphael had to chase it down. 

“Let’s roll out, squad.” Claude motioned and everyone began to follow him off of the courts. “It’s looking like some lunch is in order.”

“Lunch time, lunch time!” Raphael cheered, speeding up to walk in pace with Ignatz. “What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing.” He readjusted his glasses. Raphael had to admit that seeing him in the tennis skirts that Claude insisted that they all wore was a perk of the summer so far. Today Ignatz wore white and he looked like a real professional with his matching tennis sneakers. “I was just hoping to get some art done today.”

“Really? That would be awesome!” Raphael smiled. He had known that he wanted to work on his art for a while… but they had been so busy recently. The fishing competition less than a week ago had taken all day—and they didn’t even catch a single fish! He was about to offer to go to the studio area with him, when the now tell-tale sound of a golf cart motor buzzed behind them.

“Hey brats!” Byleth yelled as she pulled her cart up next to the group of campers.

“Would it  _ kill  _ you to call us something nice?” Lorenz huffed.

“Okay, Gloucester. I’ll try again.” She smiled. “Hey hoes! Announcement!”

“I’ll take it.” Claude shrugged. “What’s the announcement?”

“Thank you for asking,” Byleth said, obviously pleased. She continued to drive at the same pace as her campers, not paying much attention to the path in front of her. “Today the three cabins will be having an Ultimate Frisbee tournament. And by today I mean in less than an hour.”

“I don’t want to play dumb white people sports,” Claude said, willing to test his luck with the goal of not being subjected to that college bullshit rich white kid sport. If one could even  _ call _ it a sport. 

“Too bad.”

“Let’s play soccer, or field hockey—hell, let’s play football,” he suggested. There were a couple mutters of ‘tennis’ behind him.

“Ultimate Frisbee is a good game for any skill set.”

“Oof, Byleth. I’ll have to sit that one out.” Hilda pouted, making a show to place a hand on her lower stomach. “My period just started and it’s hell.”

“Goneril, that would be your third period in one month.” Byleth rolled her eyes. “You’re playing Ultimate Frisbee.”

“That’s so rude,” Hilda whined, “don’t you have any respect for people-with-a-uterus problems?” The rest of her friends were beginning to laugh at her whining; as per usual it was ridiculous and over something so miniscule.

“Minus ten, Goneril, and there will be a lot more to come if you don’t come to the game.” Byleth took a long sip of her coffee. “I expect y’all to be there.”

“I don’t want tooooooo,” Claude picked up Hilda’s whine and the rest of the cabin dissolved into giggles. It was all fun and games until Byleth swerved her cart quickly, enough that the corner clipped Claude’s arm. Claude being Claude threw himself to the ground, screaming, “Oh no! I will never be able to use my arm again!”

“Shut up, von Reigan.” Byleth continued to drive, stopping several feet ahead as the cabin laughed at their leader. “You will come to the competition and you  _ will _ like it.” She could only watch behind her as the man continued to roll on the ground, doing a perfect imitation of a male soccer player who was nudged by the opposing team during the World Cup. He wouldn’t get up immediately, even as Ignatz tried to get him back on his feet.

“Back up,” Leonie started chanting, gaining confidence as the others joined her, “Back up! Back up! Back up!”

Byleth began to do so as the chanting sped up and  _ that _ made Claude jump up (miraculously, not injured after all).

“Oh wow, he lives,” she said with a surplus of sarcasm. “I will see you all playing Ultimate Frisbee and that is that.” With that, she drove off.

“What is her problem?” Lysithea practically growled, crossing her arms and moving towards Claude. “She could have killed you.”

“Last I checked, you were one of the people chanting ‘back up,’” Claude retorted. He  _ really _ didn’t want to play Ultimate Frisbee. He followed his other cabin mates as they reluctantly made their way to the sports field, doing the mental math of whether or not he could afford to… just not show up. He abandoned the idea, however, knowing that Byleth would willingly pull them down into the negatives regardless of how high they were. “It looks like we’re playing Ultimate Frisbee today then, folks.”

“What… exactly is Ultimate Frisbee?” Marianne asked, raising her hand slightly to get Claude’s attention.

“Worthless.” Claude frowned. “And stupid.”

“Okay, but what are the rules?”

“It’s simple, you’ll figure it out easily. It’s like a boring version of soccer.” Claude waved her off.

“Okay,” Marianne said again.

Hilda popped up besides her. “It’s okay babe, I’m sure we can just stand to the side as the others take care of it.”

“Really?” Lysithea pushed her way into the conversation. “Isn’t it a team sport?”

“I can play.” Marianne said quietly, but leaned in towards her girlfriend. She truly did appreciate Hilda wanting to help her, but participating was never the  _ worst  _ thing. “Maybe if we work together, we can win.”

“Now that’s the spirit!” Marianne yelped as Raphael threw an arm around her shoulders. “I’m not quite sure how to play either, but I’m sure we can do it.”

“I mean, it’s kind of like football in a way,” Ignatz offered. He had played it a few times in high school gym class. “But with a frisbee.”

“Oh okay, it can’t be too hard then.” Raphael smiled. “Why are you so upset about it?”

“It’s for  _ white _ people.” Claude was still sulking over the proposition. “Rich trust fund kinds like your bunch.”

“Hey!” Leonie crossed her arms. “That’s not  _ all _ of us. Yell at Lorenz.”

“Why me?” He frowned. “Let’s just get to the field before Byleth yells at us again.”

With Lorenz’s plea, they all started towards the camp field. Claude lagged behind the rest of the group, watching as the others tried to guess what Ultimate Frisbee was about and what made it  _ ultimate _ . They decided not to change from their tennis skirts and showed up to the field just as Byleth was going to take away their participation points.

“Okay, then I think we’re only missing von Varley and von Hresvelg,” Byleth said, checking off the eight Golden Deer on her clipboard.

“I have her.” Edelgard was tugging a screaming Bernadetta by the wrist behind her, approaching the other side of the field. Marianne winced. She knew what it was like when people weren’t conscious of personal space and Edelgard was the epiphany of it. “See, it’s not that hard to just show up.”

Bernadetta yanked her wrist away, the fear not fading from her eyes. She looked down. Claude tensed at the scene, but he didn’t say anything.

“Lovely.” Byleth checked off the last two stragglers. “I’m sure it’s a given, but everyone knows how to play?” She spun the disc in her hand, the obnoxious  _ Garreg Mach _ logo on the top of it.

“No,” the Golden Deer chorused.

“Okay, I’m sure von Reigan will be happy to explain it,” Byleth said. She threw the disc in the direction of Edelgard, but missed and it sailed right past her. “Fetch.”

“Really?” Edelgard asked, but she didn’t argue. Claude had to admit that she looked tired, keeping an eye on Bernadetta as if she was going to run away.

“So first up I have Blue Lions versus Golden Deer.” Byleth looked down at her clipboard. Lorenz would bet at least one hundred dollars that there wasn’t anything written on it. He couldn’t make any writing out on the page in the reflection of her sunglasses. “We don’t need pinnies, right? You know who’s who.”

“ _ No _ , I don’t know these people that I’ve been living with for a month and a half,” Dimitri said. Claude bit back a gasp; he didn’t know that Dimitri was  _ capable _ of sarcasm.

“Minus twenty.” Byleth adjusted her glasses. “I will be the ref and everyone will be on the field at once.”

“Um, Byleth.” Ferdinand fought his way towards the front of the group. “There are no refs in  _ Ultimate  _ and there’s only seven people on the field at the time.”

“Sounds fake,” Byleth responded, “and call it  _ ultimate _ one more time and I’m taking away one hundred points.”

Hubert yanked him backwards, still complaining that they weren’t ‘honoring the spirit of the game.’

“Any other complaints?” Byleth sighed. “I want this to be over.”

“Claude still won’t tell us the rules,” Lysithea offered.

“Well, that sucks.” Byleth produced a silver whistle out of her pocket and blew into it, everyone flinching at the sharp sound. “Start the game.”

“Okay.” Dimitri and the Blue Lions got into a huddle and began to presumably talk about strategies.

Raphael scratched the back of his head. “So, what are the rules, Claude?”

Claude just kicked at the ground, playing with the edge of his skirt. “It’s like soccer but with a frisbee.”

“That doesn’t really help.” Ignatz laughed nervously. Sure his cabin leader could be stubborn, but never quite  _ this _ ridiculous.

“I mean, we can just stand there until they win.” Hilda waved in the direction of the other team. They were still in a huddle. “Just don’t get in the way, we don’t get hurt. Easy.”

“Hey, no giving up!” Leonie insisted. She tried to get everyone’s attention, but no one was quite listening except for Raphael. She turned to him, deciding that he was most likely their last hope. “It’s pretty much like football. You try to get the frisbee from one side of the field to the other, like a touchdown.”

He nodded. “Okay, we can do that. It won’t be  _ that _ hard.”

Leonie grabbed Lorenz’s collar, bringing him into the pseudo-huddle. “We just pass the disc and hopefully Lysithea will join.”

“I don’t know, it seems dumb.” She joined the group, almost knocking Lorenz over.

“Stop pushing me around,” he grumbled.

“Oh, shut up.” Lysithea shook her head. “We can’t bow down to the Blue Lions! I mean, look at them, they’re taking this  _ so seriously _ .”

“I don’t know, they all seem to be good at sports.”

“But  _ we’re _ good at sports,” Lysithea insisted. “I watch all of you play tennis!”

“She’s right, we can do it.” Leonie smiled, glad that she had pulled together  _ half  _ a team. Claude was still moping while Ignatz tried to get him to explain the rules to no avail. Marianne looked like she wanted to join the ‘huddle,’ but Hilda was too busy telling her how they could get away with doing nothing.

“Are you done?” Byleth yelled. Leonie looked up. The Black Eagles were all on the sidelines bickering about god-knows-what (she swore one time she heard them have an argument over what day of the week it was) and the Blue Lions were spread out on their side of the field. “Golden Deer, you’re up.”

She tossed the frisbee to Lorenz, who barely managed to catch it. Immediately, the other team began to advance onto their side of the field. Ingrid started towards Leonie as Dimitri advanced on Lorenz.  _ Uh oh _ . His eyes widened, and he threw the frisbee towards Leonie.

It was a bit off, but she sprinted towards it, snatching it out of the air right before it hit the ground. She looked around the field for people who were open. Her options were… limited, but she spotted Raphael standing with no one on him yet.

“Raphael!” Leonie called, taking two exaggerated steps away from the approaching Ingrid and throwing the frisbee in his direction before the girl could snatch it out of the air.

Raphael caught it. This was his chance to score a point. He took off sprinting, toppling Hilda who was standing  _ near _ him but was definitely not paying attention to the game. He barreled his way through Claude, who also happened to be in his way, before sprinting onto the other side of the field. They would be able to score before the other team! He knocked Dimitri to the ground before Ingrid  _ attempted _ to catch up, not quite able to grab the disc that was tucked so cautiously under his arm. Felix was yelling some obscenities at him as he raced to the goal line, both Annette and Mercedes on defense just sliding out of his way as he barreled through.

“Heck yeah!” he yelled, throwing the frisbee to the ground.

Byleth blew her whistle, announcing into her megaphone. “Kirsten, that doesn’t count. You can only take  _ two _ steps when holding the frisbee. Oh and you also can’t tackle anyone. Penalty in favor of Blue Lions.”

Dimitri, lying on the ground near Ignatz, who was attempting to help him up just muttered, “Why did you… wait for him… to knock us all over?”

“He was quite on a roll,” Ignatz said, offering a hand to help Dimitri up.

“Hey, don’t make friends with the enemy!” Claude yelled as he, too, got up from the ground.

Hilda was cursing, her girlfriend helping her up as she whined about getting muddy. Marianne looked like she was trying not to laugh.

Raphael jogged back over, pretty confused over the rules. “It’s not fair that it didn’t count, how is this game  _ supposed _ to be played?”

Ignatz laughed. “I guess since Claude doesn’t want to tell us, we now know that you can only take two steps with the disc.” 

“Okay! I’ll try my hardest this time,” Raphael insisted and Ignatz smiled. He was truly glad to see his friend so pumped up about the sport that no one else wanted to participate in. It was already clear that him and Leonie were going to be carrying the team, with more complaints than help from the others.

“Hilda, you okay?” Lysithea joined her on the field as the Blue Lions were resetting for the penalty.

“Uh, do I look okay?” She motioned to her skirt that was smeared with mud. “I can’t believe he knocked me down like that.”

“You weren’t paying attention to the game,” Marianne said quietly, looking at her girlfriend.

“Why would I do that?”

Marianne bit her lip. She could hear the annoyance in her voice, but it was something that needed to be said. She lo—well, love was a strange word when you just started dating—but she cared about Hilda a lot. As much as that was true, she could get out of hand sometimes. It wasn’t like Claude was helping.

Marianne turned to the others. “How about everyone spreads out a bit?”

No one would have heard her, but Leonie had listened. “Hey! Listen to Marianne! Let’s all spread out!” she called, much louder.

“You know,” Hilda leaned her head on Marianne’s shoulder, “you don’t  _ have _ to play. You could get hurt.”

“We should spread out,” she said, taking a step away. She didn’t mean to sound harsh, but it felt weird. She didn’t like when Hilda tried to make choices for her. Yeah, that was it.

“Oh, okay.” Hilda’s usual perkiness faded. Marianne felt bad, but she would talk to her after the game.

“So that was good, but only two steps,” Ignatz was explaining to Raphael. “And you can’t knock anyone over on purpose.”

“How can I get the frisbee, then?”

“Hit it out of the air or get in the way of a pass.” Leonie joined the conversation. “We can do this, Claude, good to go?”

He crossed his arms. “I  _ guess _ .”

And  _ there _ was the Claude that they knew. The one that was a fan of petty and dumb competitions, even if they  _ did _ stem from a  _ shitty white person sport _ .

Over the next twenty minutes, they managed to give up nineteen goals (points? None of them were very sure.) to the Blue Lions. They spent most of their time trying to avoid being mowed down by the other team. It turns out that some people  _ do _ play sports and happen to be good at them.

“Okay, not going to lie.” Claude called for a time out (and was awarded one, despite it not being a thing in Ultimate Frisbee) and gathered everyone in a half-hearted huddle. “They had us in the first half.”

“I think we’re past the first half,” Lorenz frowned, “and they are going to win.”

“That’s fair.”

“How about we get  _ one _ point?” Lysithea suggested. “Do you think we can manage that?”

Raphael’s encouraging “yeah!”  _ almost _ drowned out everyone else’s various  _ no _ ’s and  _ not really _ ’s.

“Hilda, you’re being more mopey than usual.” Claude nudged her, to which she just silently hit him back and walked away. “What’s up with her?”

“I think she’s upset with me,” Marianne said, feeling the panic begin to seep into her. She knew that Hilda was too good for her, she must have ruined it. It was expected, after all.

“Marianne, take a deep breath,” Ignatz said, cleaning his glasses on his shirt. “Everyone’s just a bit frustrated, you two can talk it out after the game.”

She was going to argue when Byleth called out, “C’mon! Let’s go! You’re not winning this game, anyways.”

“Byleth is right,” Claude said. “We aren’t winning this game.”

“Wow, that’s encouraging.” Lysithea looked up to him.

“But,” he put his hand in the middle of the circle, “we’re going to get one frickin’ point! Who’s in?”

Shrugs passed around and they all put their hands in. On the count of three, everyone broke away, with Raphael and Claude hyping each other up. They were going to score one point, they could do it!

Claude was given the frisbee and he jumped two steps, tossing it to Raphael. The tall man snatched it out of the air and held it above his head as Claude ran further down the field. Dedue made a half-hearted attempt to swipe at it, but Raphael kept it out of his reach.

Leonie dodged Ingrid, also making sure that she was free for a pass. She had to admit, their enthusiasm was quite contagious.

As Ignatz watched them make their way down the field, pass by terrible pass, he didn’t have the heart to point out that the Blue Lions were letting them get the point. They were all just standing around and pretending to make grabs at the disc. He smiled… maybe this was the true spirit of  _ Ultimate _ that Ferdinand was talking about?

Claude cheered and hoisted the frisbee into the air when he passed into the goal zone.

Byleth blew into her whistle. “Golden Deer has scored. I’m going to end it there, since you guys are utterly fucked. Blue Lions win twenty four to one. Five minute break and then it’s Black Eagles versus Golden Deer.”

“You did it.” Ignatz smiled as Raphael joined him to get water. “You really showed them.”

“Thanks!” Raphael downed half a water bottle in one go. “Turns out Claude can play the white person sport.”

Marianne tried to dodge conversations by not heading towards the water, but Hilda sat next to her and handed her a water bottle. “Make sure to drink it.”

“Thank you,” Marianne said. She was scared of further upsetting Hilda, so she grabbed it and took a long sip. They sat in silence.

“I’m sorry for being rude to you,” Hilda finally said, realizing that their “break” was most likely going to end soon. “You’re allowed to talk to me if I’m doing something wrong.”

“I-I thought that you were angry at me,” Marianne said quietly, not wanting the others to hear, “for telling you to participate.”

Hilda frowned. “I wasn’t angry. I was worried that  _ you _ were mad at  _ me _ .”

“I just don’t like when people try to make decisions for me, but I shouldn’t have been harsh about it,” Marianne explained, still nervous of Hilda biting back at her comment.

Instead, Hilda nodded. “I know I get a bit controlling at times, so I’m sorry if it ever slips. I love you—I mean,” she fished for the words, playing with her pigtails. Was it too early? Eh, fuck it. “No, that’s what I mean,” she admitted. “I love you and we can talk more about this later if it’s still bothering you.”

Marianne felt the smile growing on her face. “I love you, too.” She grabbed her cheeks and kissed her.

“Goneril, von Edmund, what the ever loving fuck?” Byleth yelled, blowing three times into her whistle as the two girls jumped. “Young love, stop bragging.”

“Young love? You’re only nineteen,” Edelgard muttered next to Claude, getting ready to go back onto the field.

“Still pissy at Byleth?” Claude asked, nudging her arm. Edelgard just frowned at him, finishing tying her hair into a ponytail and stepping onto the field. He followed her, ready to make some  _ friendly conversation _ . “She’s into you, ya know.”

She shoved him, hard, and he threw himself onto the field as any good soccer player knows how to do.

“Ah! My chest!”

Byleth whistled, walking over. “Von Hresvelg, what is the meaning of this?”

“I barely touched him.” Claude could hear the two bickering as he continued to roll on the ground. Edelgard would have to thank him. He was a genius.

“I don’t know, he appears to be in a lot of pain.”

“Really? You’re going to take his side?”

“No sides are being taken.” Byleth sounded highly amused. “Good luck in the game and we can discuss your behavior later if you so please.” Claude stopped rolling on the ground. “And get the fuck up, von Reigan.”

He listened to her walk away and he hopped up, nudging Edelgard once again. “You’re welcome.”

“You’re unbearable.” And with that declaration, she walked away to join her team who was arguing about how to play  _ Ultimate _ as Ferdinand called it. Claude rejoined his own team, who were trying to figure out how they could not  _ suck as bad _ .

“All I’m saying is not a lot of them look like they can take us,” Leonie was speaking. “Ferdinand apparently plays this for school, but no one wants to help him. Caspar is small and fast, but he isn’t a team player. I say just watch out for Petra and Edelgard and  _ maybe _ Hubert.”

“Where were you?” Lorenz whispered to Claude, who put his hands behind his head. “I thought you said we can’t make friends with the enemy.”

“Getting Edelgard a girlfriend and possibly an upper hand for us,” he said. “Let’s play some sports ball!”

“There’s no ball,” Lysithea reminded.

“They fight too much to beat us,” Claude insisted.

Approximately half an hour later, the Golden Deer were sitting on the sidelines and watching the finals after losing slightly-less-miserably-than-the-first-game to the Black Eagles.

“Well, we learned that teamwork isn’t the only thing we need in life,” Claude said as Ingrid intercepted the disc before it could reach the ever-confident Ferdinand. “But we also still have the most points, so sucks to suck.” He kept an eye on Byleth as she smiled when Edelgard got the frisbee. They were  _ too obvious _ .

“It’s okay, we tried. I love you guys,” Raphael said, leaning his head on Ignatz. There was a chorus of  _ I love you _ ’s as Byleth announced that Ingrid was the MVP. It was a given, considering her overwhelming domination of the field. Even so, the Blue Lions barely dipped into the positive half of the point board, leaving only Edelgard’s cabin deep in the hole. Byleth’s bullshit aside, it had been a good day.

* * *

Ignatz sighed as he began to walk back to the cabin for the night. He guessed that it wasn’t his day to paint, but perhaps the next day would be free? He doubted it with Byleth, but it was worth the hope. Besides, it wasn’t like his day was  _ bad _ , he truly had fun.

“Ignatz, it’s not too late.” Raphael jogged up to him, hands filled with snacks that he must have grabbed from the dining hall. “Do you want me to keep you company at the studio? I know that you were working on a new piece and with everything going on, I keep forgetting to see if there’s something I can do to make time for you there.”

“Oh wow,” Ignatz said, surprised that he remembered what he had mentioned that morning. “If you don’t mind.”

“Nah, only if  _ you _ don’t mind,” Raphael said. “Art is a personal thing sometimes.”

“It’s okay.”

They walked to the building that housed the studio. It was a nice night, the stars peeking out from behind the clouds. When they got to the studio, there was no one else there. Ignatz flipped the lights on, comforted by the quiet of the studio. It was his favorite place to be at camp. Even though he loved his cabin mates, it was nice to just be surrounded by his own hobby. 

“My painting is this one.” He dug around for the covered canvas, making sure not to disturb Hilda’s. Even though she specialized in jewelry and accessories, she painted with him from time to time. He felt a sudden burst of nervous energy, but he took a deep breath. Even if Raphael also wasn’t… well it didn’t mean he would be  _ against  _ it. “I based it off of a picture of the lake, but I started it during pride month, so I was trying to make the pride flag.” He showed off the canvas that wasn’t quite finished, but far enough that it got the point across. The sky in the painting was tinted and layered with the colors of the rainbow.

“Ignatz!” Raphael ran over to him. “This is so beautiful! The way that the colors blend into one another!”

“Are you okay with it?” Ignatz asked, not meaning to ask the question. He blinked, before turning to Raphael. “I mean… I’m sorry.”

“With the painting? Of course.” Raphael looked confused, he took a seat at one of the workshop tables and continued to look at the painting in awe. Ignatz truly was amazing. “Did you want to talk about the pride flag?” He tried to judge what his friend was so nervous about.

“I don’t think so,” Ignatz said, beginning to search for the paints that he had been using. He wanted to add more detail to the shore. “I think… I just wanted to tell you.”

“Thank you for telling me,” Raphael said, honestly. He wasn’t sure why his palms were sweaty. All he could think of was about how skilled Ignatz was and how beautiful his work was. How beautiful  _ he _ was. “Me too.” He pointed towards the painting. “I’m pan.”

“Thank you,” Ignatz said, sounding more nervous than he planned. He mixed the paints, too jittery to glance over to the table where his friend was sitting. He knew that Raphael was looking. Watching. He began to paint.

“Hey Ignatz,” he began, feeling the butterflies flying around in his stomach. They had been in silence for a while now, Raphael hypnotized by the brush strokes.

“Hey Raphael.”

“I think I want to kiss you,” he said, watching as the other boy blushed at the comment. “If you would let me.”

Ignatz put his brush down and that’s what he did.


	5. Don't Rock the Boat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’ll I’m saying is that it would be easy to light their cabin on fire.” Hubert re-entered the room—no one had noticed that he had left. In one hand he had Ferdinand’s hairspray, the other a lighter. “It would be easy.”
> 
> “Put that down.” Linhardt sighed. “That is one of the least controlled methods of making a fire.”
> 
> “No one’s setting a fire.” Dorothea frowned. “Hubie, let’s put that down.”
> 
> Byleth calls out the cabin leaders’ behavior and creates a team-bonding exercise to help them get along while the Black Eagles are free from Edelgard’s reign for the day. Will bonds be forged or will they just go up in flames?
> 
> Black Eagles: -645  
Blue Lions: -180  
Golden Deer: -50

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning on this chapter for descriptions of nearly drowning.
> 
> Enjoy the chapter!

Dorothea pulled Edie into the bathroom first thing in the morning, turning on the shower so the other two girls couldn’t hear their conversation. “I’m going to be completely honest with you, this is a bad idea.”

“What?” Edelgard frowned, she took a step forward to turn off the shower, but Dorothea grabbed her wrist and used her other hand to pull down the collar of Edie’s shirt. Sure enough, the bruised skin was still dark from the night before. She  _ knew _ that she had been too giddy when they woke up. “I fell.”

“I know what hickeys look like.” It was Dorothea’s turn to frown. “Edie, I understand liking someone like Byleth, I really do, but you’re going to get hurt.”

“It was just making out.” Edelgard crossed her arms and Dorothea sighed. She assumed that her friend was going to get defensive—and fast. “It’s nothing serious, don’t worry.”

“If you just wanted to make out, you could just do so with me,” she insisted, recalling the moments they had earlier in the summer. “Edie—”

“It’s nothing serious,” Edelgard said. Her voice was getting stronger and it was clear that she didn’t want to be a part of the conversation.

“Okay, so Byleth is saying that it’s nothing serious, but what about  _ you _ ?” Dorothea asked. “I’m not doing this to spite you. I just want you to be happy and Byleth is… not the nicest person.”

“Whatever,” Edelgard said and it was clear that the discussion was over. Dorothea sighed when she left the bathroom without another word. She was surprised that Edelgard was  _ this _ stubborn, but she had to give it to her—she did get what she wanted.

“Good morning, Petra,” Dorothea said as she returned to the room, having washed her face and taken a few deep breaths. Petra was getting changed, slipping into the usual camp t-shirt. Edelgard wasn’t in the room—she assumed that she had joined Hubie for coffee. She wasn’t going to go this morning, Edie needed space. “Good morning, Bern.”

“Good morning.” Bernie peaked her head up over the railing. “Ready for breakfast?”

“Almost.” Dorothea smiled. She was proud that Bern seemed to be coming out of her shell a bit more. At least when their cabin leader wasn’t around. When she was there… it was a whole different story. “I would watch out for Edie today, she’s a bit irritated.”

“Okay.” Bernie nodded, she was glad for the heads up.

“Is she okay?” Petra asked. “She came back late.”

“Just a lot going on,” Dorothea assured. “Now, go both of you go brush your teeth so we can head out.”

“Okay!” Bernie scrambled out of bed and her and Petra headed to the bathroom. Dorothea was glad to have the two of them around. Growing up she alway liked being an older sister as she was living in and out of foster homes and shelters. Especially with Petra being fifteen and Bern’s anxiety, she was glad that they liked her helping out, that they saw her as someone to rely on.

They got ready and Dorothea called for the boys to join them for breakfast. They might have fought a lot in the cabin, but by the Goddess they would all show up to the dining hall together. Settling down at the table, Dorothea took her usual seat next to Edelgard.

“I’m sorry, but I can make my own decisions,” she said as she played with the sausage with her fork.

“Of course you can, Edie.” Dorothea had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. She loved her cabin leader dearly, but she was known for her stubbornness. She was about to apologize for perhaps overstepping her boundaries, when a certain someone entered the room.

Byleth looked exhausted as she slammed open the door of the dining hall with an iced coffee in her hand. Petra stared as her counselor crossed the room and straight for the whiteboard. Her entrance had attracted the attention of practically all of the campers. She ripped open the marker and used the back of her hand to wipe away the Black Eagle’s -645 and change it to a solid -745.

Edelgard felt her soul leave her body and she wasn’t sure if her face could get any redder as the other cabins all turned to look at her table. Byleth spun and locked eyes with her, smirking before heading towards the kitchen.

“Did you do  _ that _ bad of a job?” Dorothea furrowed her brows and whispered to her friend. “I mean, I know you’re pretty new to the whole thing, but I thought you were oka—”

“Stop,” Edelgard said, shoving her head into her hands, not wanting the attention that Byleth’s  _ little stunt _ had gained.

“Hey!” Ferdinand stood up, yelling after Byleth. “What could we have possibly done overnight?!”

“Yelling,” Linhardt reminded him, but to no avail as the rest of the table turned into accusations and shouts of unfairness.

“She’s out of her mind,” Caspar insisted.

“Maybe she is in the wrong?” Petra asked. “I do not have understanding.”

“Edelgard, do you know what could have happened?” Hubert turned towards the woman.

She picked her head up, cheeks a violent red as she stared at each and every person in her cabin and said, “Not another word on this.”

Bernie could feel her threat deep in the pit of her heart and evidently so did the others, considering their table fell into complete silence. They picked at their food until Byleth reappeared with yet another announcement.

“Today is a free day,” she said, looking from table to table, “except for Blaiddyd, von Reigan, and von Hresvelg. Team workshop with yours truly  _ immediately _ after breakfast.”

The rest of breakfast was silent as they ate as quickly as they could to get away from Byleth’s wrath. Dorothea patted Edie’s head for good luck and soon it was only the three cabin leaders left.

“So, what did you do?” Claude slid onto the bench next to Edelgard, a dumb smile spreading across his face. “Something bad? Or is she just  _ embarrassed _ ? A lovers’ quarrel, perhaps?”

“I’m not answering that,” Edelgard said, doing her best to keep her temper down. It would only be worse the more she resisted. Dimitri sat across from them at the table, avoiding eye contact. At least he wasn’t as dumb as the other man.

“You know, it really  _ sucks _ that I have to do this.” Byleth slammed her iced coffee onto the table, not sitting down but standing and glaring at them. “How are you supposed to encourage a  _ friendly _ environment when all three of you won’t fucking look at each other?”

“You facilitated an actual competition between us,” Dimitri pointed out.

“Minus twenty five.”

“I expected as much, but it’s the truth.”

“Minus five.”

“Really, can you even do that?” Edelgard growled.

“Minus ten for that one, von Hresvelg.” Byleth crossed her arms. “I can keep going all day if you want until you get along. Y’all are going boating together and y’all are going to love each other and that is that.”

* * *

While Edelgard was having what was easily considered the worst day of her life, Linhardt was looking forward to climbing right back into bed. He would have snuck off to the section of the camp run by Hanneman, but he already said that he wouldn’t be present that day. It would be easy just to slide right back under the covers…

“Let’s play UNO!” Ferdinand said with a big smile as soon as they got back into the room.

“Let’s not,” Hubert said.

“I’m going to bed.” Linhardt curled under his covers, dodging the question entirely.

Ferdinand frowned and turned to Caspar. “Do you want to play UNO?”

“Can we see if Bernie wants to play?” he asked.

“Sure.” Ferdinand smiled. Even if not everyone wanted to play, they should be doing  _ something _ with their day off. Besides, it was nice outside. “We can sit on the porch.”

By the time they got the game started, they had gathered Bernie, Petra, and Dorothea to play. Petra had never heard of the game before, but it got easier as her friends explained it to her.

“Another take four?” Ferdinand gasped as Caspar threw the card down, only adding to his ever-growing hand of cards. “You have to be cheating.”

“I’m not.” Caspar shrugged. He looked over, Bernie was almost out of cards and was getting visibly nervous at the chance of winning. Ever since he had helped her at the archery range, he was beginning to learn more about what made her upset and what to avoid in order to keep her happy. It was easy enough: the problem was mostly having too many eyes on her. Whether it was good or bad, if too many people were looking, she panicked.

“I am plus one UNO.” Petra proudly showed off that she only had two cards in her hands.

“Very close.” Dorothea clicked her tongue. “It would be unfortunate if something was to happen.”

Ferdinand laughed. “We get along so much better without Edelgard here.”

The circle grew quieter after that. No one wanted to admit that it was… well, painfully true. Even though Linhardt and Hubert were inside, this was more participation than they had managed on a normal day.

“Don’t be so hard on her,” Dorothea urged. “She doesn’t mean to be so strict.”

“I heard her yelling at you this morning,” Petra said, looking down at her cards and waiting patiently for her next turn. “And she grabs Bernie.”

“No, it’s okay.” Bernie shrunk further away from the conversation with a nervous laugh. “I’m used to people doing that to me.”

Caspar felt a pang in his chest when she said it so casually. “I don’t think anyone should lay a hand on you if you don’t want to be touched.” He felt bad for raising his voice, noting that Bernie jumped at it.

“I’m sorry that I helped to carry you a couple weeks ago,” Ferdinand said. “It was honestly a lapse in judgement.  _ How did I get this many cards? _ ” He spread them out, practically half the deck in his hands.

“I can talk to Edie about it,” Dorothea offered. “I didn’t know that it made you uncomfortable, Bern. That being said, I don’t think it would kill us to at least humor Byleth with participation.”

“The only humor Byleth is getting is from taking points away from us,” Caspar said, putting down a card. “UNO.”

Petra quickly put down both of her cards in a row, smiling wide as she said, “UNO! The win is mine!”

“Nice job.” Bernie offered her hand for a high five and Petra did so. Everyone else also high fived the excited teenager.

“Can I join this round?” Hubert walked onto the front porch, holding a mug of coffee that he must have brewed when he got back.

“Of course.” Ferdinand smiled, considering it a victory that even the stoic man wanted to join. He slid over and Hubert sat in between him and Dorothea.

She took a sip from his coffee—as per tradition. “Also, I wanted to have a meeting with you guys later. About the whole point situation.”

“How we managed to lose one hundred overnight?” Ferdinand asked. He instinctively took a sip from the mug that Hubert had put down in front of him. Hubert only gave him a half-hearted glare as punishment.

“Well, maybe not that,” Dorothea said. “But how we can get back at the other cabins.”

“Get back? Why?” Caspar asked.

“That’s for the meeting later,” Dorothea insisted, shuffling the cards with skill after watching Ferdinand fumble with them for a bit too long. “We might wait until Edie gets back.”

* * *

“Okay, for one: kayaks are meant for two people  _ tops _ . Second: I’m not getting in one with either of them.” Edelgard pointed to both of the taller boys she was standing in between. She despised Byleth’s sick idea of team bonding.

“Yeah, it’s going to be quite the balancing act,” Claude said, glancing towards the two-person kayak. “Dimitri and I aren’t very small.”

“You just have to get cozy,” Byleth insisted, “that’s the teamwork aspect.”

“It’s not worth fighting it,” Dimitri relented, stepping gracefully into the kayak on the dock and sliding to the back. He grabbed the paddle and used it to keep steady. “Edelgard, hop into the front and Claude can squeeze in the middle.”

“I’m not getting into that thing,” Edelgard insisted, glaring at Byleth. She lowered her voice. “I can’t swim, remember? I’m not getting into the death-boat.”

Byleth laughed, a teasing one that didn’t light up her face. “A  _ death-boat _ ? I think you’re being dramatic now, von Hresvelg. You will be in a boat, not the water.”

“That doesn’t matter if it tips.” She felt the anger rising and her voice raised with it. “And we’re  _ going to _ tip. It’s not built for three people.”

“It’s fine! We’ll be careful,” Claude insisted, he basically pushed Edelgard into the front of the kayak, the smaller woman not really a match for his height. She almost toppled into the water, but balanced and sat cross legged at the front of the boat. Dimitri took care to keep it steady for her. “See, not so bad.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you.” Edelgard didn’t want to believe this was actually happening. Byleth was standing on the dock with a pleased look on her face. Edelgard was still angry at the embarrassment she had caused her this morning. After how nice the previous night was… it wasn’t fair. She barely noticed when Claude got into the kayak, wrapping his lanky legs around her. “Don’t touch me.”

“My legs just need to go here,” he insisted, but his voice sounded too close behind her.

“You just need to kayak to the middle and the lake and back without killing each other,” Byleth announced. She sat down on the edge of the dock to finish the last of her coffee. “Best of luck.”

Edelgard wanted to march back onto the dock and far away as possible, but Dimitri pushed off and started a slow paddle.

“So, how has everyone’s days been?” Claude asked, his tone bordering on dangerous.

“Don’t talk to me,” Edelgared said. She realized a bit too late that she didn’t have a life jacket on. She looked back at the dock and considered asking Byleth for one, but knew she would only get more  _ shit _ . Looking at the center of the lake, it wasn’t  _ too _ far away. As long as they all behaved it would be a smooth enough ride.

“Claude, you are on my crotch,” was Dimitri’s response.

“Sorry, it’s a bit cramped.” Claude tried to readjust himself, but he only succeeded in shaking the boat from side to side. Edelgard clutched onto the ropes at the front of the kayak and her other hand gripped Claude’s shin. “You really don’t like the water, do you, Edie?”

“Don’t call me that,” she muttered, but she was doing her best to focus on staying as still as she possibly could. Dorothea was the only one who could get away with nicknames for her.

“Scared you’ll get your hair wet? You don’t have to go as far as saying you can’t swim.” Claude laughed.

“Just stay still,” Dimitri scolded. The boat was rocking gently as he dipped the paddle into the water. “It won’t take long.”

“So, what happened between you two?” Claude began to investigate after a record-breaking two minutes of paddling in silence. Edelgard was growing tense as they got further from the dock. The lake was bigger than it looked while out on the water. “Let me guess… exes. Either that or you both have crushes on each other. This tension is something.”

Dimitri laughed nervously as Edelgard rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, nothing like that.”

“So you are actually together?” Claude sounded shocked.

“It is absolutely nothing like that,” Edelgard said, indignant. “Stop with ridiculous talk.”

“Geez, fine.” He sighed. “I don’t think I like this kayak ride.”

“You can paddle if you would like,” Dimitri offered.

“I think I just want to get out,” Claude said. Edelgard didn’t like the tone in his voice. It was light and it sounded like he was up to something. “You guys can paddle back.”

“Claude, don’t you dare,” Dimitri started, just as the panic started to seize at Edelgard’s throat. “El can’t swi—”

Without listening, Claude leaned sideways into the water, taking the rest of the boat and its passengers with him. The cold water dragged Edelgard under and she lost her breath when one of the boys kicked her in the side trying to get to the surface. She tried to think, but she couldn’t. It was dark and there was nothing but silence around her. Edelgard fought the water, but it was encompassing. There was no way to get out.

She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. How was this happening? How did she let them get her onto the stupid boat without a life jacket? She didn’t know what to do.

Edelgard felt a hand grip onto her arm and yank her upwards to the surface. As soon as took a deep, choking breath, she could feel herself sinking back down. “Try to float, get to your back!”

The voice belonged to Dimitri and she assumed that he was the one holding onto her. She kept on struggling against the water, this time taking both of them back under. She didn’t know what to do, Dimitri pushing her back up towards the surface a second time.

“The boat is right here, try to grab on,” he urged her, finally getting her arms onto the slick bottom of the kayak. She was barely holding on, but both Dimitri and Claude propped her up, treading the water behind her. “You’re okay, we got you.”

Edelgard could only cough in response, her lungs still felt like they couldn’t get enough air. She was scared. She wanted out of the water,  _ now _ .

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay.” A new voice accompanied by a separate kayak was heard. “I’m going to get you up into my boat, okay?”

It was coming from Byleth, but it was much more gentle than Edelgard was used to. The counselor stopped her boat behind her and hopped into the water, helping Edelgard climb into the kayak without tipping it.

“I’m really sorry,” Claude said as she continued to choke out water, glad to be  _ out of it _ . He sounded genuinely concerned and his face was stiff. “I thought you were joking about not swimming.”

“We can talk about this later.” Byleth climbed back into her kayak, her clothes now soaked through. “Just head back to your cabins. I’m going to make sure Edelgard is okay.”

She tried to speak, but the water prevented her from doing so. It was in her throat and her nose and all she could do was cough as she sprawled out over Byleth’s legs. The boys began to flip their own kayak back over, aware that she needed space.

“It’s going to be okay,” Byleth promised, rubbing her back and patting it to help her along. “You can breathe at least a bit, right? It’s going to take a second to get all the water out, so just keep taking short breaths.” As she coached Edelgard, she pulled her head into her lap, continuing to pat her back with the other hand and occasionally double-checking her pulse. “If it’s okay, I’m going to start paddling so we can get you back on shore.”

Edelgard nodded and the next thing she knew she was getting carried to Byleth’s golf cart and could somewhat breathe. If she wasn’t so concerned about almost dying, she would have been suffering from the embarrassment of the whole deal. She buried her face into Byleth’s chest so that the boys couldn’t see the tears that were threatening to spill over in her eyes. She didn’t cry.

Byleth kept whispering comforting words to her until they were back at the cabin, Byleth opening her door and sitting her down on the bed.

“Here’s some dry clothes.” Byleth dug around in her own drawers, handing pieces of dry clothing to Edelgard. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Edelgard said, not attempting to contain the harsh tone in her voice. She grabbed the clothes and went to the bathroom, taking a deep breath and wiping the tears from her eyes. She pulled her soaking wet shirt off and dropped it on the tile, cursing at the bruises that were still littering her chest. Instead, she pulled on Byleth’s sweatshirt and sweatpants. They smelt like her.

Returning to the room, she sat at the small table rather than the bed. Byleth was now also clothed, her eyes holding a dangerous gleam. “You okay?”

“No,” Edelgard repeated, not sure  _ what _ she wanted to hear from the woman. Maybe Dorothea had been right that morning. 

“Look, I’m sorry!” Byleth finally admitted, turning to Edelgard and slamming her hand onto her dresser. “I fucked up, okay? It wasn’t funny and you could have gotten hurt and I feel really bad.”

“Byleth—” She couldn’t get a word in.

“I didn’t take you seriously when I should have and I don’t want you to hate me. Everyone already does.” Byleth took a sharp breath. “I didn’t listen to your ‘no’ and I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t just your fault,” Edelgard said after Byleth had let her words fade into the quiet of her cabin, though she had a feeling she was just attempting to placate the counselor. Her sweatshirt was warm and she pulled the sleeves easily over her fists. “Claude forced me onto the boat. And I forgot to make him get life jackets.”

“You really could have died.” Byleth finally sat down in the seat across from hers. The table shook with the force and Edelgard could see her hands trembling. The woman had been truly scared. “I’m sorry.”

She was beginning to get worried with the amount of times those words had tumbled from her lips. So she leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “You and Claude weren’t going to let me drown.”

Byleth frowned. “What’s up with you and Blaiddyd?”

“Nothing.” Edelgard drew away. “Well, I mean we’re—”

She was cut off by the sound of a… fire truck? Or an ambulance. Regardless, it was some type of siren that sounded too close for comfort.

“The fuck?” Byleth stood, looking out the windows, trying to see the lights. She sighed and grabbed her sunglasses from the side table. “Let’s go, von Hresvelg.”

* * *

After several rounds of UNO, the Black Eagles relocated into the cabin. They had managed to get Linhardt to at least take a nap on the floor of the porch so that they were all bonding. He had curled up in the strips of sunlight like a content house cat.

“Thank you for coming to my meeting.” Dorothea paced the room in front of the others, all sitting cross-legged in a circle. They were all stacked in the boys’ room with quite literally nothing better to do with their day. Dorothea had to admit that she was worried that Edelgard wasn’t back yet. It was late afternoon by this point and she hoped that she hadn’t murdered any of the other cabin leaders. She decided it wasn’t worth it to stall the meeting. “This is to discuss the nature of the point system and how we can get the other cabins to stop fucking us over.”

“The other cabins…?” Bernie trailed off, not quite understanding where her roommate was going with this.

“Well, clearly there are people against us.”

“I don’t think we need to go as far as turning this into a conspiracy theory.”

“Hubie, if I had a red string I would be making a fun chart.” Dorothea slid down to the floor to join them, crossing her legs. “It’s the Golden Deer messing with us.”

“How do you know that?” Caspar asked.

“Well, I learned it’s obviously not the Blue Lions.” Dorothea sighed.

“I don’t get this,” Ferdinand said. He was leaning against Hubert’s bed, absent-mindedly twisting the blanket between his fingers. “Could it just be that Byleth hates us? And by us, I mean specifically hates Edelgard.”

“She didn’t put our kayaks on the water, though.” Linhardt sighed. He had been looking forward to this day off, but now Dorothea was running  _ meetings _ . “She isn’t willing to put in that much effort to screw with us.”

“And she didn’t put the Blue Lion’s shoes up in the tree.” Dorothea pointed at him. “Thank you, Lin. You get me.”

“How do we know that it is the Golden Deer?” Petra raised her hand.

“Well, I wasn’t able to get that much inside info on them,” Dorothea said, “but I have gotten plenty from the Blue Lions—enough to know that it’s not them being competitive.”

“Blue Lions?” Hubert frowned. “What exactly have you been doing with Sylvain.”

“Lots, but that’s not what the point of this conversation is.” She clapped her hands together. “All of the legal campers in the Golden Deer are gay or taken, but I chatted with Hilda.”

“Just chatted…” Caspar said, just to be sure.

“Yes! She’s dating Marianne, I’m not  _ evil _ .” Dorothea waved him off. “Yeah, she’s not exactly a strong link for the Golden Deer, she doesn’t care that much. Any-ways,” she continued in a cheerful, song-filled voice. “Claude’s been scheming this whole time. Hence why they’re the only ones with positive points.”

“Well we can do something about it,” Hubert said. “Set them on fire?”

“Hubie, that’s too much.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Ferdinand asked. Hubert just shrugged.

“We can totally just beat them up!” Caspar said, raising his hands. “We can take them!”

“I do not have the faith that Caspar can hurt Raphael.” Petra frowned.

“Talking over each other won’t help,” Linhardt insisted, hugging his pillow to his chest. “Geez, why do we even have to do anything? The points don’t mean anything.”

“Edelgard cares a lot about them,” Bern added.

“I’ll I’m saying is that it would be easy to light their cabin on fire.” Hubert re-entered the room—no one had noticed that he had left. In one hand he had Ferdinand’s hairspray, the other a lighter. “It would be easy.”

“Put that down.” Linhardt sighed. “That is one of the least controlled methods of making a fire.”

“No one’s setting a fire.” Dorothea frowned. “Hubie, let’s put that down.”

“You want to do something about the Golden Deer, I say let him.” Caspar leaned back from sitting and just lied across the floor.

“He’s going to kill us,” Bernie whispered to Petra, who just grimaced and said ‘maybe.’

“I don’t like that you’re aiming at me,” Ferdinand said, grabbing Linhardt’s pillow and holding it in front of his face. “I think Linhardt might be correct about that being uncontrolled.”

“It’s controlled,” Hubert insisted, shaking the can of hairspray and listening to the metal ball inside bounce around and echo. Sure, Edelgard wasn’t there, but she would stop needing to obsess over the points once the Golden Deer were dealt with. It was the most efficient route and the most obvious.

“Hubie, let’s not—”

Dorothea didn’t have time to stop him before the man sprayed hairspray into the air with his left hand and flicked the lighter with his right. The Vine-inspired flamethrower roared to life and everyone ducked and yelled like the fools that they were. It was under control.

“Hubert!” Ferdinand tried to scoot away from the flame, causing him to knock into Hubert’s leg. He stumbled a bit, looking down to try to kick away his bunk mate.

“Goddess,” Dorothea muttered. “Hubie, that’s enough! You’re going to set off the fire alarm.”

Bernie was huddled against Dorothea as Petra was just staring at the flame, confused exactly how such a strong fire was sprung from the can. Caspar was smiling wide, until he realized how scared his friends were. That made him stand up and snatch the lighter out of Hubert’s hand.

“See, controlled.” Hubert stopped spraying the canister and let it lower. 

“Controlled?!” Linhardt was curled up in a ball. “Controlled my ass, you could have killed us!”

“But I didn’t. Everything is splendid,” Hubert said.

“Um.” Ferdinand was looking up towards the top bunk that had gotten in the way when the man had stumbled. “Guys?”

They all followed his gaze upwards to find that a small fire was being nursed by Ferdinand’s blankets and was slowly growing and jumping towards the ceiling.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Dorothea cursed. “Call 9-1-1.”

“We have no phones.” Bernie’s eyes were wide. She  _ knew _ she should have stayed in her room.

“Ah, pour water on it?” Petra offered, grabbing one of the coffee mugs off of the dresser and sprinting into the bathroom.

“Don’t do that! That will make the fire grow!” Caspar yelled.

“That’s grease and electrical fires, you dingus.” Linhardt sighed, staring at the flames. “Get the extinguisher.”

“Where?!” Bernie asked, cowering away from the flames. 

“There’s one in the front entrance.” Linhardt waved towards it, watching as Petra came back and tried to stop the fire with one mug-full of water. Dorthea ran to grab it and managed to spray half the room until the fire was put out.

Everyone collectively exhaled, the smoke furling from the blankets and burnt remains of Ferdinand’s mattress.

“Well, at least the fire alarm didn’t sound!” Caspar said and immediately the shrill beeping penetrated the room.

“Goddess.” Hubert groaned. “You had to say that?”

“You’re the one who set it on fire in the first place!” Caspar yelled.

“Okay, guys, let’s just get out of the smoldering room.” Linhardt started rounding them towards the door. “Unfortunately, the fire department will be here soon whether we like it or not.”

“Well, this sucks. We were doing so good,” Dorothea lamented as they all stood around outside, getting together a plausible story for what to tell the police. “Hubie, I have to admit, I had more faith in you.”

“Ferdinand hit my leg.”

They watched as the police arrived and elected that Ferdinand and Hubert had to explain what happened. Not long after the police were already yelling at them for reckless behavior, their favorite camp counselor arrived.

“Arnault, what the absolute fuck happened?” Byleth approached the group with Edelgard in tow. Both of their hair was soaking wet and Edelgard was tripping over a pair of slides that were way-too-big. “I swear to the Goddess if you were smoking and set the alarm off I’m going to kill you.”

“Actually, Hubert did it.” Dorothea waved her hands, still trying to calm Bernie down. She had gotten spooked by all the hustle and bustle.

“Von Vestra, you were smoking?” She turned her attention.

“Nah, he used a lighter and a can of hairspray as a flamethrower,” Caspar provided. “We  _ put _ it out, but the alarm still went off.”

“I don’t want to talk about that,” Byleth insisted. She looked… more expressive than usual? The others couldn’t put their finger on it. “What’s the state of the room?”

“Pretty okay, just I think Ferdinand’s bed is fucked,” Dorothea reported.

“Everyone sleep in the other room tonight, I don’t want you guys inhaling anything until we can air it out,” Byleth said. “Now  _ please _ head inside so I can talk to the firefighters who had to come all the way out here.”

Everyone did as they were told, except Edelgard, who stood next to Byleth.

“Oh, just let me run inside so I can change and give you your clothes.” Edelgard began to turn, but Byleth caught her wrist.

“Just keep them.” She looked at Edelgard before kissing her cheek. Edelgard shied away from the action. “They look cute on you anyways, von Hresvelg. Come back sometime to get your clothes, okay?”

Edelgard nodded and Byleth walked away, heading back in the direction of her own cabin. She frowned when she entered the room, all of her cabin mates looking at her suspiciously.

“Welcome to the sleepover, I guess?” Ferdinand smiled and everyone groaned.


	6. Capture the Flag (or Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Awh, what a lovely meeting.” Dorothea was smiling, enjoying herself a bit too much. “I didn’t think I would actually run into other people.”
> 
> “It’s pretty obvious that you weren’t prepared, then,” Ingrid challenged.
> 
> She smirked in response. “Goddess, you are pretty hot when you talk shit.”
> 
> “Guys! I’m right here,” Lysithea pleaded. She pointed her Nerf gun. “How about we all just head off in our own directions and pretend that nothing happened?”
> 
> In the calm of Byleth’s silence, Dimitri and his cabin forge a plan to win capture the flag, but will it be enough to win the points that they so desperately need?
> 
> Black Eagles: -755  
Blue Lions: -710  
Golden Deer: -550

Ingrid had her hair pulled up into a ponytail, pouring over a hand drawn map of the wooded area that surrounded the camp. “All I’m saying is that as long as Claude doesn’t cheat, we can win this.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Dimitri nodded, holding out his hand. Ingrid gave him a high five and smiled. “Thanks for taking the time to make a plan.”

“Of course, it’s not a problem.” She pointed to all of the points of attack for the three-way battle. “Do you remember when we would play capture the flag in the neighborhood? I truly thought that Felix and Glenn were going to kill each other over it.”

Dimitri laughed. “You always had to pull them apart. Then you would turn your back for ten seconds and Sylvain would be off flirting with some girl.”

“Yeah…” She put her chin in her hands, leaning her elbows on the maps. She was smiling, but there was a glint of sadness in her eyes. Dimitri could feel it in his own heart as well. “I miss him.”

“Me too,” Dimitri said, leaning back into his own chair. “It’s been a long time and yet it still hurts.”

“Always will.” Ingrid shrugged. She twirled the end of her ponytail. “I think he would find some kind of amusement in this hell camp.”

The door slammed open to the cabin and Felix marched in. They stopped all mention of his late brother and turned their attention to him. “Sylvain has been fucking the enemy. That’s why the Black Eagles got the stupid fishing gear.”

“Let’s take a step back.” Dimitri put his hands up, watching as the boy angrily ran his fingers through his hair. “Sylvain did,  _ what _ ?”

“He’s fucking that Dorothea from Black Eagles.” Felix sounded much more angry than what Sylvain’s  _ usual _ bullshit would earn.

“Are you sure?” Ingrid frowned. “Dorothea is gay.”

“Believe me, I just had to walk into it.”

Ingrid made a gagging motion, which almost prompted Dimitri to laugh. He held it in, not wanting to draw his friend’s anger.

“Well, we can talk to him,” he managed.

“He’s such a dick.” Felix growled. “Especially when we have capture the flag coming up.”

“Now, Felix,” Ingrid attempted, not liking how her friend was literally steaming at the news. “I’m going to assume that this is about more than the points, because you don’t really care about the competition. Do you want to… talk about Sylvain?” She tried.

“Of course this is about the points, what the fuck are you insinuating!?” Felix almost walked out. Dimitri and Ingrid looked at each other. Definitely was about Sylvain. “Stop doing that.”

“Felix, Sylvain is an adult.” Ingrid tried again. “We can talk to him to make sure that he’s not sharing information, but you might want to have a conversation with him if other things are bothering you.”

“Shut up.” Felix was about to leave when the man in question joined the room.

“Really? You’re going to go tattle on me like this?” Sylvain pushed his hair back. “I can’t believe you.”

“Both of you need to stop acting like this,” Ingrid interrupted, putting her hand up and both of the boys listened. “Sylvain, Dorothea is  _ gay _ . If she’s been asking you questions about our cabin she is  _ using you _ . Felix, get your feelings in order and stop whining to me about Sylvian.”

She was successful as the two just gaped at her and tried to formulate any sentences.

“Capture the flag is starting soon and you two are part of a  _ team _ , understand?” Dimitri added, only redirecting the glares to him instead. 

“I’m not doing anything with the likes of him.” Felix crossed his arms.

“Great news, because you’re not with him.” Ingrid smiled. “You’re with Dimitri and I.”

“With the boar?”

“Thanks.”

“Sylvain, you will be babysat by Mercedes,” Ingrid continued.

“Babysat?”

“Now both of you get changed, we’re wearing all black so we can blend in.” Ingrid waved them both towards the dressers before returning to her own room. Dimitri didn’t want to be left alone with the two of them and was praying that Ashe or Dedue would return soon.

“Goddess, I just wish that you could keep your dick in your pants,” Felix started immediately after Ingrid had left.

“Fuck off.” Sylvain tugged his shirt off and threw it across the room at the other man.

“Both of you, cut it out,” Dimitri urged. “You don’t have to let a woman get in between you.”

“That’s not the problem,” Felix said.

“Then what is the problem?” Sylvain countered.

Dimitri sighed. He was sure that capture the flag was winnable, but not with those two bickering like school boys. His cabin needed the points after the fiasco three days ago. Neither Claude nor Dimitri argued when they were put in the negatives nearly as deep as Edelgard’s cabin. The two boys had gone to apologize and check on her that night, but she still wasn’t very receptive. That, and Hubert von Vestra was standing in the shadowed corner glaring at them the entire time. Byleth must have been feeling guilty too, staying especially quiet the past days. She wasn’t taking away any points and refrained from yelling at them—just giving the morning announcements and stalking off to do her own thing.

“Annette, Mercedes, and Ashe will be back soon,” Dedue announced as he entered the cabin, gratefully saving Dimitri from being alone with the two others. “They were looking for paint that we could use as eyeblack.”

“Eyeblack? You people are unbearable.” Felix made sure to voice his opinion.

“It wouldn’t hurt you to humor her,” Dedue responded. It was quiet as they all changed into the darkest clothes that they owned, hoping to camouflage into the woods.

“We got paint!” Annette announced, entering the cabin with Mercedes. The two of them had scavenged cosmetic grade paint from the art studio, finding a canister of dark blue. “We can do the stripes under the eyes like we’re a football team!”

“Count me out.” Felix crossed his arms, doing his best to avoid Annette puffing out her cheeks.

“Oh, you’re going to do it,” Mercedes said gently, with a big smile. Felix felt said smile in his soul and relented to her friend.

“Lean down,” Annette urged and Felix complied, letting her paint a dark blue line under each eye with her finger. She did so for each person in the cabin before Mercie did hers. She was excited that everyone was willing to do it, she assumed that half of them wouldn’t let her. Even Dedue let her paint his face, the stoic man having to kneel in front of her for her to reach. “I think we got this in the bag!” she cheered.

“Blaiddyd, can we talk?” Byleth knocked on the archway of the door. She motioned him outside, stepping far away from the cabin before beginning to speak. Dimitri felt a little silly with the eyeblack on, but it wasn’t like his counselor to call him out one-on-one. “Um, has Edelgard said anything to you about what happened?”

“I think she’s understandably still mad,” Dimitri said, noting how Byleth’s face fell. “She’s not going to get over it in a couple of nights, you know? We all suck for not taking her seriously, and if she’s going to talk to anyone about it, it’s not going to be me. Ask Dorothea,” he offered.

“I asked Dorothea and she yelled at me.” He was surprised to hear the pain in her voice, the frustration that was building. “And Claude said I should just let her be… but I don’t know what to do. She hates me.”

“Byleth.” Dimitri could see the panic radiating off of the woman. He could tell that she had been going from person to person trying to get an answer. “Take a deep breath. How about we sit down?”

They sat in the grass by the cabin and Dimitri waited patiently for Byleth to start talking. She was raking her hands through her hair and he wanted nothing more than to be able to help. He wasn’t sure if he  _ could _ , but he was willing to try.

“I know that it shouldn’t be about me,” she finally started, staring at the grass rather than him, “but I can’t shake not knowing? I don’t know how to tell her that I’m sorry more than I already did. I thought we were okay that night but then she started avoiding me and I don’t know how to deal with that.”

He made sure that she was done before he tried to speak. “I think it’s important that you wait for her to come to you, pushing it isn’t going to help. This isn’t a reflection of you, just that sometimes people need time to think about things. You need to show her that you’re sorry by respecting the boundaries that she has set.”

“Just another person is going to stop talking to me,” she muttered, presumably to herself. “I deserve it. I just keep on being a bitch to all of you and I thought I would be okay with everyone hating me, but I’m not.”

“Okay, perhaps you have been a bit mean,” Dimitri interrupted her, not liking the self-deprecating path she was beginning to venture. He knew it too well how easy it was to spiral. “But you aren’t giving yourself enough credit. Just the fact that you’re willing to sit down and talk to me about this is really important. Sure, El might not want to speak with you at the moment, but if you show with your actions that you are changing I’m sure she’ll come back around.”

“Everyone hates me.”

“Turning it on yourself isn’t the way to go about this,” Dimitri said, picking a piece of grass from the ground and twisting it in his fingers. “There was a time where… I really didn’t think I deserved my friends. It was after my parents had died and I became really withdrawn. I knew that they were hurting, too, and wanted to help, but I felt that I didn’t deserve help. So for over a year I was just horrible to them.” This finally caused Byleth to pick her head up and look at him. “Once I had apologized, they didn’t take me back right away. I had hurt them, but eventually they forgave me. It only really happened once I forgave myself and I realized that it was a possibility that they wouldn’t take me back.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t know,” Byleth whispered. “Now my problems seem so ridiculous.”

“They’re not. People process things differently.” Dimitri made sure to smile at her. “Besides, you aren’t as bad as you think. I see that you don’t take points away from Ashe or Annette. You made a mistake that you seem to intend to fix—that doesn’t make you a bad person.”

“I couldn’t take points from them, I think it would break them.” She scoffed.

“Exactly. I think you just need to take a step back and realize that Edelgard is like that as well. On the surface she can take all of this that you’re throwing at her, but it gets to be too much for anyone. Teasing is one thing—I promise I think it’s pretty funny when you take away random bits of ten points—but not when she’s trying so hard to please you. I think you need to sit down with her once things calm down and just have an honest conversation with her. I don’t know what happened the other day with the minus one hundred points, but that was too much. There was no explanation and it was in front of everyone—you really embarrassed her.”

“I guess I did.” Byleth took a deep breath. “Okay, so let her come to me. Be more aware of how all of you react to my actions. Be kinder.”

“That sounds like you have a plan,” Dimitri said, “and tonight is going to be fun. My cabin is actually really excited for capture the flag. We have a plan and everything. Oh, and apparently Sylvain has been having sex with Dorothea and giving away our intel.”

That earned a sad laugh from Byleth. It was nice to hear and it warmed Dimitri’s heart. Even though she had been difficult for the last month, they did spend everyday together. It was good to see her willing to address her problems and seek him out to talk. “I didn’t want to know that.”

“I had to learn it, so you had to, too,” Dimitri said. He stood, holding out his hand to pull Byleth up with him. “Everything will work out how it’s meant to be. And as I said, you seem to want to change things, so it will happen.”

“Thank you, Dimitri,” she said and he was surprised to hear his name. “Good luck with capture the flag.”

“We’ve been working hard,” Dimitri said. “Take care of yourself.”

*

The Blue Lions gathered at the dock with the other cabins. They were the only ones all matching and they could hear the rest of the cabins making fun of them. It didn’t matter, they were going to win.

“We’re getting flags on us, right?” Annette asked.

“Yes, like flag football,” Ashe said, he went over to Byleth’s cart to grab their box of blue flags. If either one were pulled, they would have to go to the designated jail area. They had gotten most of the rules from Byleth the day before. They geared up before everyone else.

“Quiet down, y’all.” Byleth stood in front of them with her megaphone. It took a while for it to quiet down, but eventually almost everyone stopped chatting. The sun was starting to set, the beginnings of sunset colors appearing on the horizon. “I assigned positions for the flags in the woods surrounding the lake as you know,” Byleth continued, “and the lake is  _ off limits _ .” The Golden Deer groaned—obviously a bump forming in their plan. “It’s getting dark out and there’s no lifeguards on duty, I’m not willing to take that risk—I can’t watch the whole lake. No swimming, no boats. Stay on land.”

“Boo, no fun!” Raphael yelled, but Claude hushed him.

“Also, I do have a shit-ton of Nerf guns to use, but that’s only if  _ everyone  _ is okay with it. No one will be mad at you if you say you’re uncomfortable with it—I don’t want anyone to be scared and I understand that pointing even fake guns can be a scary thing. I’ll be asking each of you  _ individually _ so you can anonymously state your concerns as we get ready.”

Dimitri smiled to himself. He was glad to see Byleth taking everyone into account for once. Sure, it was a bit off-putting from the usual  _ do whatever the fuck I want  _ attitude, but it was important. 

Dedue watched as Raphael bent down and Claude hopped onto his shoulders. “Ha, Dedue! We’re taller than you!”

“I see.” Dedue looked up at them with a frown. He was considering asking Sylvain to get on his shoulders again, but it also wasn’t worth the risk of injury.

“Von Reigan, if you fall off this dock no one is going to save you,” Byleth said, but she didn’t seem to care too much. “Kirsten, I might get you.”

“Okay, does everyone know the plan?” Ingrid walked over to where Annette, Mercedes, and Ashe were chatting. “Mercie, you’re in charge of keeping Sylvain in check. Mostly distraction, take some of the others out if you see a good opportunity.” She threw an arm around Annette, leaning on her. “Annette, Dedue, and Ashe will be in charge of guarding our flag. Unfortunately, Felix, Dimitri, and I are the task force.”

“You guys can do it!” Annette spun, cheering her friend on.

“I believe in you.” Mercedes smiled. “And I will make sure Sylvain behaves.”

“If we get stormed, I don’t think that we can stop them,” Ashe said, clearly nervous. “But we can try our best.”

“I’m just worried about the Golden Deer.” Ingrid pointed towards the duo of Raphael and Claude who were still challenging Dedue. “They pose a threat to getting our flag. The Black Eagles seem like more of a disaster than usual.”

Byleth joined the conversation. “Are y’all okay with using the Nerf guns? I won’t be upset if you say no.”

“Let’s use them,” Ashe cheered. “Are you handing them out fair and square or is there going to be a murder cornicopia?”

“ _ Hunger Games _ , I like it.” Byleth made a finger gun at him. “But, no. I don’t want all of you tackling each other over some toys. I’m going to split them evenly if everyone is okay with it. It will probably get the go-ahead because the people I was most worried about already said it was okay.”

“Awesome,” Ingrid said. “Thank you for checking.”

“Best of luck, Galatea,” Byleth said. “After watching your performance in Ultimate Frisbee and scaling that tree a month ago, looking forward to seeing what you can do.”

“Oh, thank you.” Ingrid was beaming. There was no question that she was happy to receive such praise from the stoic woman.

“Yeah, you’re going to do us proud.” Annette smiled at her. Annie had been very happy with her cabin. Even though so many of them were childhood friends, she never felt left out. Especially compared to how some of the other cabins functioned, she was glad to have the little family.

“Okay, we are on for the Nerf guns,” Byleth announced into the speaker. “I will be delivering a box of them to your flag when we’re in the set up stage. Do you guys remember the rules? This is a game of  _ accountability  _ and  _ honesty _ , don’t ruin it for everyone.”

“Yeah, because you’re great on those two things,” Hubert said, glaring at the woman who was announcing. Surprisingly, she shied away, not taking away points or arguing.

“You can only pull flags if they are in someone else’s territories, not their own. That’s a safety,” Byleth said. “Make sure to grab the territory flag as well as the individual flags for each person. Now, get out there and I’ll deliver the Nerf guns.”

“Okay, let’s walk over to our base,” Dimitri called everyone’s attention and they all followed him to the farthest side of the lake.

“I think we can win this quickly,” Dedue said, breaking the silence as they ducked under trees and made it to the alcove in the woods where their base was going to be set up. Ingrid proudly displayed the flag and stuck it into the rocks. The Blue Lion stood proudly on the fabric, rustling in the wind.

“We just need to wait for Byleth to deliver the Nerf guns,” Mercedes said. “It would be good for Sylvain and I to have them so we can draw attention to us.”

“We’re going to end up in jail,” Sylvain said.

“Good.” Felix couldn’t resist the comment.

“Hey, here’s your box.” Byleth showed up on an ATV, quite the upgrade from her golf cart. She looked tired as she dropped the box on the ground. “I don’t think any of you in particular will cause problems. Just be careful, don’t aim at people’s faces.”

“We understand,” Mercedes ensured. “Are you okay, Byleth? You look really tired.”

“Barely slept, I’ll live,” Byleth said. “But thank you, von Martritz.”

“Take care of yourself,” Annette added.

“Need to go deliver these to Golden Deer. Be careful, I’m giving von Reigan a bow and arrow.” She motioned towards the final box. “When you hear the alarm on my megaphone, that’s when we start. Best of luck.”

“Let’s get divided up.” Dimitri opened up the box. “Dedue should get the automatic one, since he will be at the biggest risk of being ran into. The rest of us are planning  _ stealth _ , so choose accordingly.”

By the time they got the weapons handed out and they finalized their plans, they heard the alarm that was a feature of Byleth’s megaphone go off. It echoed through the woods off of the lake, all of the Blue Lions looking at one another.

Ingrid nodded towards Dimitri. “Okay, let’s head out.”

“End it quickly,” Sylvain urged as Mercedes dragged him off in the direction of the Golden Deer’s territory.

“Actually, I think I’ll stay here.” Felix crossed his arms.

“Let’s go, Felix.” Ingrid pulled on his hand, dragging him along until he shook his hand free. They walked into the enemy territory before she spoke again. “I heard that Hubert and Edelgard are guarding their flag. I’m not sure who will be watching the Golden Deer.”

“Oh, well I’m sure that Sylvain is probably hanging out with Dorothea.” He huffed.

“Really? This again.” Ingrid crossed her arms. “What did I say about  _ talking to him _ .”

“Guys, quiet down,” Dimitri hissed, pointing in the direction of two figures in the distance. They were both holding Nerf guns, quietly talking to one another and seemingly patrolling the area. Their red flags hanging from their waist made it clear that they were from the Black Eagles… yes, it was Bernadetta and Ferdinand. The man was making grand gestures as the smaller figure was shrinking away.

Dimitri motioned away from them and they crouched, holding the guns close to their chest. It was the brightest part of their persons, so they did their best to hide it. They had almost crouched away from the group when Ferdinand looked in their direction.

“I think I heard someone!” he exclaimed, prompting Bernadetta to scream. While she was carrying on, Ingrid stood and shot the Nerf gun far in the other direction, causing both of them to look in the direction of where they saw the bullet ricochet off of a tree. “Over there!”

Dimitri, Ingrid, and Felix ran in the opposite direction before they could be found. “Nice job.” Dimitri gave her a high five.

“Thanks.” She smiled.

As they were making their way to the Black Eagles, the defensive team was busy preparing.

“Annette, could you please hand me that stick next to your foot?” Ashe asked, trying to squint in the dark at the trap he was creating.

“Sure thing!” Annette promptly gave him the  _ wrong _ stick, but it worked fine just the same. They were laying traps in the area surrounding their flags that would snap and alert them to people coming. Their job was to hide in the brush surrounding the base so it didn’t look like there were strong defenses. Dedue was the main target, since he was the most intimidating.

“That should be enough,” Ashe announced, standing and looking to his partner. “Want to find a good place to wait?”

“I saw some rocks and bushes over this way.” She led the way, making sure that they were still in eyesight of their flag and Dedue. The man was pacing the area, holding one of the bigger Nerf guns by his waist. He looked like a soldier in the army or a StormTrooper in Star Wars. They crouched in the rocks and kept their ears and eyes peeled for anyone approaching.

Meanwhile, Sylvain was being forced to hold Mercedes’s hand.

“Really? Is this necessary?” He motioned with the small pistol he had in his other hand.

“Absolutely.” Mercedes gave one of her relentless smiles. “It’s only fair considering how much you told Dorothea.”

“You know about that, too?”

“We could all hear Felix yelling,” she informed. They both stopped, hearing some more steps approaching. In the distance, they could see a pair of pink pigtails tumbling through the woods.

Strangely enough, she had a cell phone pressed to her ear. “Yes, yes, I miss you guys, too.  _ No _ , of course I’m being safe. No, I didn’t drown in the lake yet.”

Sylvain shrugged and began to walk towards her. As far as they knew, they were still in the Blue Lions territory. So, he shot her.

Hilda whipped her head up. “Ow?” she whined. “Why would you  _ shoot me _ , Sylvain.”

“So you would be out?” He waved his gun. “We’re playing capture the flag?”

“Yeah but I wasn’t  _ doing anything _ —” She paused, frowning at her phone. “No, Daddy, I didn’t actually get shot. No, don’t call the camp. It was a Nerf gun.”

“Just make sure you go to the jail,” Mercedes called after her.

“Yeah, yeah.” Hilda waved her hand. “ _ No, don’t call the camp, Holst _ .”

“A decoy?” Sylvain turned to Mercedes as the figure retreated, arguing on the phone.

“Oh, most definitely.” Mercedes shook her head. “Keep your eyes out for any of the other campers.”

As they tried to hunt down the stray Deer, the other three were making steady headway into the Black Eagle’s territory.

They were nearing the area where the flag was kept when a first shot rang out. They looked towards the tree next to them and there was a Nerf arrow stuck to the tree. All three of their eyes followed the line of fire to see Petra perched in a branch. She hopped down from the tree and started sprinting towards them.

“Separate!” Dimitri called out and all three of them scattered. Ingrid started sprinting in the direction that she came and she could hear Petra following close after her. At the very least she knew that she couldn’t draw the bow again while running after her. She did her best to not get caught on the various brush in the woods.

Ingrid knew she only had to get far enough to distract her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the colored ropes that marked a change in territory. Thankfully, Petra didn’t seem to notice and followed her right in.

She turned on her heel and charged at Petra, diving at her flag. Her opponent was obviously surprised that she had done so and tried to get out of her way, but couldn’t dodge in time.

Ingrid hit the ground hard, but was thrilled to feel the fabric of the flag in her hands. She held it up so the other could see.

“That was fun!” Petra cheered. “You have much speed, Ingrid.”

“Thank you, you too.” Ingrid smiled as Petra helped her out of the dirt. She definitely skinned her knee on the way down. “Nice shot.”

“I missed.” Petra nodded and took her flag back, heading in the direction of the jail. “Good luck.”

Ingrid waved, before trying to figure out where to go from there. She thought it over. In  _ theory _ , the boys would be good enough to get the flag from Hubert and Edelgard. In practice, Felix didn’t know what teamwork was and could be stubborn as hell. On the other hand, she knew that if she split off towards the Golden Deer, the victory could be secured in half the time.

She picked a direction and headed towards it.

“All I’m saying is that we can drown  _ her _ in a lake and see how  _ she _ feels about it.” Felix and Dimitri looked on as Hubert and Edelgard were clearly arguing and not paying attention to their surroundings. They had regrouped after Ingrid led Petra away, but there was still no sign of their teammate. Even Felix was hoping that she wasn’t out—she had been so excited to play capture the flag since it was announced.

“You’re not going to kill Byleth.”

“She tried to kill you.”

“I mean, this can’t be  _ hard _ ,” Dimitri whispered to Felix.

“What if they have others stationed around?”

“I mean, we already eliminated three.” Dimitri counted out on his fingers. “We might run into Linhardt, Dorothea, or Caspar. I like our chances.”

“I’ll distract them to be sure, I don’t care if I get out. You can go get the flag, boar.” Felix shrugged, beginning to skirt around the base area opposite of where the flag was. Dimitri took to the other direction. He was almost in position when he stopped short of stepping on a sleeping figure. Linhardt was curled up on the ground, oblivious to the man that was above him.

Dimitri simply stepped around the sole rear guard and waited for Felix to cause some sort of distraction. He could hear the clear rustling of his friend and after a while, the two Black Eagles seemed to be tuned into it, too. They both went towards the noise, completely neglecting the flag. Dimitri snuck in and grabbed it quietly, making a quick escape into the woods. It was easy, almost  _ too _ easy…

Actually it was, considering he made it back to his own base without running into any of the Black Eagles.

Ingrid wished she could say she was having the same kind of luck. 

Instead she found herself in the middle of a standoff. Dorothea had one pistol pointed at each of them as Lysithea and Ingrid turned theirs on each other.

“Awh, what a lovely meeting.” Dorothea was smiling, enjoying herself a bit  _ too _ much. “I didn’t think I would actually run into other people.”

“It’s pretty obvious that you weren’t prepared, then,” Ingrid challenged.

She smirked in response. “Goddess, you are pretty hot when you talk shit.”

“Guys! I’m right here,” Lysithea pleaded. She pointed her Nerf gun. “How about we all just head off in our own directions and pretend that nothing happened?”

As she said that, she shot at Ingrid, who thankfully didn’t believe a word that she said and ducked. Dorothea shot both of her guns at the same time, that Nerf bullet  _ also _ miraculously sailing over Ingrid’s head.

For good measure, Ingrid snatched the flag off of Lysithea and charged into the Golden Deer territory, listening as Dorothea fired bullet after bullet until she was out of immediate ammo. Goddess, was she glad for her shitty aim. 

She continued through the forest at a quick pace, trying to remember where exactly the Golden Deer’s base was drawn on the maps. She knew it was nearby, it was just a matter of finding where the flag was in the ever increasing darkness. It turned out it was  _ really _ easy if Caspar was screaming bloody murder at Lorenz.

Ingrid climbed over a couple of fallen trees, keeping low to the ground. She peeked over a bush and began to watch the scene unfold. Caspar was yelling as Lorenz was yelling back, trying to grapple for the flags hanging on his waist. Ignatz was the only one behind them, urging Lorenz to  _ stop calling attention to them _ .

She could see the flag and as far as she could tell, these were the only two guarding. She tried to run the numbers through her head: Lorenz and Ignatz were here, and she had gotten Lysithea into jail. That left Hilda and Marianne (both of which she assumed were not participating), Claude, Leonie, and Raphael. The last three were the most troubling, knowing that they could spring out of the woods at any given moment.

Ingrid took a deep breath and got close enough to the edge of the brush, before sprinting into the clearing, hoisting the flag from its stand, and taking off towards her own base.

“Hey! She got your flag!” Caspar yelled, pointing behind the two Golden Deer.

“Haha, nice try.” Lorenz huffed, except Ignatz turned and saw that the flag was indeed in the midst of being stolen. She assumed that all three of the boys didn’t have the guns on them, since they weren’t shooting at her and instead following on foot. She was blessed that she spent all of high school on the track team, running as fast as she could through the woods with the Gold Deer’s flag waving behind her. She passed into her own territory, but knew that she didn’t have time to slow down. The rules were that territory amnesty was not in effect if someone was in possession of the flag. She wouldn’t be safe until she reached the base.

She was in the final stretch when an arrow whizzed by her. Ingrid dared to turn to where it came from and saw Claude with another arrow notched in his bright pink Nerf bow. She cursed, turning forward to see that Raphael was getting ready to launch himself at her.

“Guys!” she yelled, hoping that she was close enough to the base that they would hear. She jumped to the left, somehow avoiding both the tackle of the large man  _ and _ Claude’s stupid arrow. It was a close one, but she tumbled to the ground, somehow landing back on her feet but with the flag several feet ahead of her.

Raphael scrambled towards it—but just then Ashe hopped out of one of the nearby bushes. He took quick shots at Raphael, clearly hitting his chest. Several feet away, Annette attempted to grab Claude’s flag, but he dodged her and continued to charge at Ingrid. She scooped up the flag, sprinting towards the base with all she had left. It was  _ right there _ . She could do it!

She threw herself at the base so fast that she slammed into Dedue, effectively throwing them both down to the ground. Dimitri could only look on in shock as  _ Ingrid _ toppled the six-foot-eight man.

Ingrid was laughing as she pointed to the flag. “I did it!”

“You definitely did it,” Dedue said, sitting up while Ingrid rolled off of him to lay on the ground. She was exhausted, but she  _ did it! _ She could also see that the Black Eagle’s flag was standing next to their own, meaning…

“We won!” Annette cheered, joining those at the base.

“Ingrid, you’re bleeding.” Dimitri frowned, looking at the blood that was beginning to trail down her leg from her right knee. The rest of her body was also beat up, lots of scratches from sprinting through the woods. “Are you okay?”

She took his hand and let him pull her up, jumping up and wrapping her arms around his neck. It took Dimitri by surprise, but he held on to her waist and hugged her close. “We did it!”

“More like  _ you _ did it.” Ashe was smiling at how excited the girl was. “Ingrid, that was amazing!”

Dimitri put his friend down, both of them beaming at one another. It felt way too cheesy, but perhaps the warm feeling building in his stomach was one of the spirit of team bonding that Byleth always preached about.

“Did anyone end up in jail?” Dedue asked.

“I think Sylvain is, he tried to take down Leonie in our own territory,” Claude offered, clearly a bit annoyed that they did not secure the victory. 

“Well, let’s head back to Byleth.”

Ingrid led the march, the three flags held over the laughing cabin as victory. Byleth frowned as she saw them emerge from the woods, looking at the sun that wasn’t set yet and then affirming the time on her clock.

“That was supposed to take at least two hours… not  _ twenty minutes _ .”


	7. The Byleth Episode

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “I did,” Byleth said. She slid the coffee to them. “I ordered you guys coffee.”
> 
> “Bribery isn’t going to work.” Hubert scowled.
> 
> “I know, I just wanted to be nice,” Byleth said, trying not to sound too defeated. She knew that they were going to be hard to talk to. She was preparing for this situation. “Yours has no sugar or milk, Dorothea’s is a latte.”
> 
> Dorothea accepted the drink with a small smile, but Hubert refused to take a sip.
> 
> Following a conversation with her father, Byleth vows to do better. While it will be an uphill battle to change her behavior, she’s willing to put in all the work she possibly can.
> 
> Black Eagles: -755  
Blue Lions: -410  
Golden Deer: -550

When Byleth was a child, she was always praised by adults for being quiet and mature. Sometimes she would go to meetings with her father and all of his coworkers would quite literally coo over how she sat in the corner and played with her toys. They didn’t notice that she wasn’t playing at all, instead just holding them in her small hands, observing them, setting them back down. She only spoke when spoken to and provided all the correct answers.

She grew to be old enough for preschool and she continued to do the same. The teachers adored her—called her an angel—but the children were another story. Each time they approached her she didn’t respond. Byleth didn’t want to play, after all, they were loud and she would get in trouble. They would tease her and she would spend every lunch next to the teacher, picking at her apple slices. It didn’t bother her, but it became a problem for the others.

Byleth got older and her father decided it was best to homeschool her. She couldn’t pretend not to hear the parents talking about how stoic she was and how they doubted she could smile. The rumors were that she couldn’t cry—and they weren’t exactly wrong. Sure, she could find the emotions if she dug deep enough but they all felt fake, like she was nothing but a puppet miming the motions of her master. And yet she didn’t mind it. Some part of her knew that she didn’t need others’ approval to be happy. Her father understood her and that was enough.

Or, at least she thought he understood her until he made her apply to Garreg Mach.

The first month had been utter hell. She spent all day avoiding her campers and leaving them to their own devices. It was too much like the attempts at clubs or school or sports—she felt that everyone could see through her. They wanted her to act like them and smile and laugh. So, when Seteth confronted her, she realized that she needed a back up. These emotions came easiest to her like this. Laughs that were meant to be fake, smiles with a bite, a monotone voice that meant business. It was pitifully easy to do so and Byleth couldn’t say that she didn’t enjoy it. Slowly, she could see the campers learn to accept her for that and follow her every order.

She pushed it too far. Byleth didn’t want to admit that she had seen the cliff coming and continued to trudge for it. The reality was that the campers were going to forget her in a month, anyways. Soon they would realize that she was nothing more than a ghost who drifted from place to place. They would want her to have such vibrant lives like the rest of them.

She pushed and pushed until she broke one of them, the one that she had been cradling close to her the whole time.

Byleth walked up the stairs of the administration building and knocked on the door tucked away in the corner.

“Yes?”

“It’s me,” she said, nervously playing with the straw that was stuck into her iced coffee.

“Come in.” Byleth pushed open the door and closed it behind her, her dad busy with some spreadsheets on the computer. “What’s wrong, kiddo? You look like someone kicked you.”

“Perhaps.” She sat down, feeling like she was sinking into the chair. It had been a long week. “Some things happened.”

“It’s always okay to come to me, kiddo. I know I’m not good at talking, but you look… horrible, no offense.” Her dad leaned back, turning off the screen of his computer.

Byleth appreciated the action (knowing she had his full attention was nice) but almost wished he was only half-listening. Her and her dad never really talked about things, not like this. It was usually done in passing.

“One of my campers almost drowned the other day,” she started, “and I don’t think anyone reported it to you guys.”

“You’re worried about that? Mistakes happen.” He laughed. “It’s a summer camp, risks like that are involved.”

“It was a bit more than a mistake,” Byleth admitted. “She didn’t want to go on the kayak and I made her. Rushed her in so she didn’t have a life vest and then sent them into the water. Another camper didn’t listen to her, either, and tipped the kayak. She didn’t know how to swim.”

Jeralt’s face grew serious as he leaned in. “Is that what’s really bothering you, or is there more?”

“Probably more,” she said. She could feel all the regret piling into one big mess and it felt like she was going to choke on it. “I’m mean to all of them. I curse at them and make fun of them and I can’t even give them the stupid fucking points.”

She didn’t want to cry in front of her dad. She didn’t want to cry. Even so, it had been so long. It was almost a relief when she felt the tears slide down her cheeks. Her dad looked alarmed but stayed quiet as she just cried at his desk, asking for help for the first time in her life. “I don’t want this. I don’t know how to get them to understand how sorry I am. I don’t know if I even want them to accept my apology.”

“Shh,” Jeralt hushed. “It’s going to be okay, kiddo. Take a deep breath.”

“I don’t know what to do.” Byleth was trying to wipe away the tears, her eyes quickly being filled with more. “They all hate me.”

“It’s not very like you to pay this much attention to what others think,” he said, but stood up and went over to his daughter, hugging her. “Have you apologized?”

“Yes,” she said, “but I don’t think it fixed things. I’m scared that I can’t fix it, but Dimitri said all I can do is give it time.”

“Is Dimitri one of your campers?”

“Yes.”

“Then they don’t all hate you if he was talking to you,” he said, stroking her hair. Her sobbing was beginning to quiet down and she could feel the rush of embarrassment from showing such an emotion. She was meant to be the mature one—now she was sobbing like a newborn. “You said that you’re upset because you’re mean to them, so how about you start with that. Just treat them like you would like to be treated.”

“It’s too late.”

“It’s not too late,” he promised. “Something that I’ve learned is you can’t expect people to forgive you right away, especially if you wouldn’t forgive them immediately if they had done something to you. If you start to change your actions now, that’s the best apology you can have.”

“It hurts,” Byleth admitted. “I understand why she’s still mad and it’s very fair, but it hurts.”

“I know,” he whispered, letting go of her and handing her a tissue from his desk. Byleth took a shaky breath, wanting nothing more than to lie down in her room with the curtains closed. It was, however, the morning and soon she would be expected to give announcements for the day. She didn’t have anything planned. “You can start with an apology to everyone and then work from there.”

“Okay. I can do that,” Byleth said, more to herself than anything. “I need to go talk to everyone at breakfast.”

She started to get up, but before she could leave, her dad stopped her. “I’m proud of you, kiddo.”

“Hm?”

“You didn’t have to come to me about this, but you did. And you were strong enough to recognize that you made a mistake and you’re pushing yourself to do better. That’s really brave of you.”

“I…” Byleth was taken aback. “Thank you.”

“You got this, I believe in you,” he said, returning to his desk.

Byleth left the office feeling lighter. Dimitri had helped her a lot, but talking to her dad helped her feel grounded. She did have a headache from the crying, however (how did people put up with this?).

She opened up the camera on her phone and checked her face. Her eyes were red and swollen, but she wore sunglasses, anyways. She flipped to her UberEats app and ordered two coffees from a fancier coffee shop that Manuela had recommended after telling her that her frappuccino was “trash.” There were two people in particular that she had to talk to.

* * *

“Good morning, I have some announcements.” Byleth stood in front of the dining hall, waiting for the three cabins to quiet down. She did her best not to look at the campers, rather at her clipboard. She had actually written out the announcements, but didn’t want them to sound fake. She was too nervous to do them without notes. “I don’t have anything planned today. You are free to do whatever you please, but do consider hanging out with one another. If you see someone alone, invite them along.”

She heard a few laughs from the tables, but she took a deep breath and continued. “Today, I also just wanted to tell you guys that I am sorry. I have been going about many things very poorly and my behavior has been nothing short of inappropriate. I hope from here on out I can make this camp a better environment for all of us to co-exist.” She cringed at the tone in her own voice. It sounded fake, reading off of the paper. It was written too formally, almost sounding like it was ripped straight out of the employee handbook.

“Who got on your case? Seteth?” Hilda called out, earning a laugh.

“Nice try.” Felix scoffed. Byleth looked down at her paper, clutching the clipboard.  _ Deep breaths _ .

“Let her talk.” Dimitri hushed his own cabin and Byleth was grateful. She couldn’t say that she deserved it, but she was grateful.

“With that being said,” she continued, “if anyone wants to talk to me about something I did to make them uncomfortable or upset, I will make time to sit down with you.” She felt like she wasn’t fooling anyone. “I hope you all have a nice day. And only if they don’t mind; I would like to speak with Dorothea and Hubert after breakfast.”

She walked out of the dining hall, followed by a chorus of  _ ooo _ ’s at her using the campers’ first names. Within the next ten minutes, she got the notification for the food delivery and returned to outside the hall, sitting at a picnic table under a tree. She busied herself with rereading the notes she had written regarding this conversation, knowing that it wouldn’t cut it with these two to read off of the paper. She didn’t want to look at all of the campers streaming out of the dining hall.

“You wanted to talk to us?” Dorothea’s voice was stiff. Byleth looked up to see her and Hubert standing there, each with their arms crossed. She didn’t like the look she was getting, but she nodded and motioned them to sit down.

“I did,” Byleth said. She slid the coffee to them. “I ordered you guys coffee.”

“Bribery isn’t going to work.” Hubert scowled.

“I know, I just wanted to be nice,” Byleth said, trying not to sound  _ too _ defeated. She knew that they were going to be hard to talk to. She was preparing for this situation. “Yours has no sugar or milk, Dorothea’s is a latte.”

Dorothea accepted the drink with a small smile, but Hubert refused to take a sip.

“Well, you can start talking,” Dorothea said, clearly annoyed. “I already told you what I had to say, darling.”

“I know that,” Byleth said, more determined. “And I guess I just wanted to let you know that I wasn’t in the right headspace quite yet when I approached you with that conversation. I was still making things about me.”

“You got that right.” Hubert scoffed.

“I just wanted to make it clear that it was never my intention to harm Edelgard.” She tried to look each one of them in the eyes. “That doesn’t excuse what I did and it never will. I’ve spent the last week trying to figure out how to right this and all I can really do is change my behavior from here on out, so that’s what I will be doing. Through hurting Edelgard, I hurt both of you and honestly I’m glad that she has friends who would call someone like me out on my bullshit. So, I’m really sorry.”

They were both quiet for a bit, looking at one another as if having a silent conversation. Finally, Hubert cleared his throat. “I’m surprised that you feel anything at all.”

Byleth felt the blow like a punch in the face and she nearly cried again. She laced her hands together. “I know, hence the problem at hand.”

“Now, we don’t need to be like  _ that _ .” Dorothea aimed her words at Hubert. She was scrutinizing Byleth intensely—leave her to be possibly the most perceptive person at camp. “Byleth, the problem is Edelgard likes you more than you seem to care about her feelings. So hook up with whoever you please as long as they are actually okay with it being a hook up.” She took a sip of the coffee. “I don’t think I need to remind you that you’re in a position of  _ power _ . That makes me awfully uncomfortable when you almost drown my best friend and then return her in  _ your _ clothing.”

“Yes, I understand that,” Byleth said, doing her best to not sound too wound up about the whole thing.

“And I honestly want to yell at you more,” Dorothea continued, “but you also seem to actually understand what’s happening this time so I don’t think it would be fair.”

“I still believe that you are a deplorable human being,” Hubert offered, but he took a sip from the coffee which was  _ something _ , “but that cannot erase the fact that Edelgard likes you. If you do anything to hurt her again or hold power over her I will not hesitate to make sure your life is a living hell.”

Byleth’s eyes widened underneath her sunglasses. “Noted.”

“Ugh, Hubie.” Dorothea hit his arm gently. Then she turned to her counselor. “Look, Byleth. I can’t forgive you just yet until I see an actual change. That being said, it’s Edie’s choice whether or not she forgives you. Unfortunately, she probably will because she cares about you… and I don’t know how to feel about that. If she ever comes to me that distressed again, I may not do anything like Hubie, but I will be contacting your higher ups. I do want to believe in you, but it’s going to take a while.”

“That is fair,” Byleth said. She felt the turning in her stomach begin to come to a stop. Her plan was beginning to work. “It’s not just Edelgard, however, I do hope that you two come around to me.”

“Good luck with that.” Hubert scoffed.

“Thank you for talking to us,” Dorothea spoke over him. “It was a very mature thing to do and it does make me feel a bit better about the whole thing. And please stop referring to us by our first names, it feels weird as hell coming from you.”

* * *

Byleth spent the rest of the day circling from camper to camper doing her best to involve herself in the activities that they had chosen to participate in. The first thing she did in the morning was visit the art studio. At first, everyone seemed noticeably on edge by her presence, but it got better as she complimented the various pieces that everyone was working on.

Hilda held the accessory that she was creating up so that she could see, explaining that it was “to keep Lorenz’s stupid hair out of his face.” It was gorgeous and decorated with roses that the man liked so much. Mercedes had managed to coax Bernadetta out of her cabin so that they could share embroidery tips. Both of them had created such simple yet pretty works and Byleth couldn’t imagine having the patience to deal with the different stitches and threads. Ignatz was consumed in his work, creating a gift for his new boyfriend that he was so happy to tell Byleth about.

She then happened across the kitchen, where Dedue and Ashe were in the midst of cooking Ingrid a meal for all of her hard work during capture the flag. They offered Byleth some, but she only tasted it seeing how large of a portion Ingrid always ate. They did share the meal, however, with Raphael who was hovering by the doorway and even invited Petra to try the food. It was nice to see that they didn’t always stay within their cabins and branched out to make friends with one another. 

Byleth considered stopping by Edelgard’s cabin, but chose not to. She would find her if she wanted to talk, she didn’t want to be too overbearing. Edelgard deserved time more than anything.

At lunch, she worked up the courage to sit with Annette, Mercedes, and Lorenz. They all had gone to the same academy and the two women had been wanting a chance to catch up with him. Annette welcomed her with open arms and made sure that she wasn’t left out of the conversation. She even went up to the tennis courts to play against Leonie and Claude.

By the end of the day, she was utterly exhausted but couldn’t sleep. Byleth had so many possible activities swirling through her head that the campers had suggested, each one being something that she had never considered. Her brain was busy trying to sort it out, but then there was also the Edelgard situation.

She couldn’t say that she wasn’t disappointed that Edelgard hadn’t gone to her during the day. It made the pain in her chest squeeze at her heart at the thought of the other woman not understanding how sorry she was, how willing she was to change. Byleth had to keep reminding herself that it was only her  _ own fault _ and it was wrong to expect such easy forgiveness to come. 

Much of the next day was spent preparing camp activities, revising the points system, and trying to figure out what the heck to say to Edelgard. All day she was on edge, but working on the camp things really took some of the pressure off of her. It gave her something to be busy with instead of just moping around.

It took a full day until Edelgard came to her, knocking on the door to her cabin after dinner.

“You said that we could talk to you?” Edelgard asked, not quite looking her in the eyes. “I’m sorry for avoiding you. I needed time to think.”

“Of course, would you like to come in?” Byleth offered. “Or we could go somewhere else that isn’t my room if that’s more comfortable.”

“Here is fine.” Edelgard came in and sat down at the small table tucked against the wall. Byleth felt strange being so formal with her, she wanted nothing more than to just say she was sorry until she was out of breath. “Dorothea mentioned that you wanted to speak to me?”

“Yes, if that’s okay.” Byleth took a deep breath, taking the seat on the other side of the table.

“I don’t mind if you start.” Edelgard still looked distant, not quite looking her in the eyes.

“Thank you for letting me talk to you,” Byleth started, realizing that she was tearing up the paper underneath her fingers and instead put her hands in her lap. “I’m very sorry for what happened the other day. I took everything way too far and I didn't take into consideration how you were feeling. I didn’t take you seriously, which is also really bad. Then I made inappropriate decisions following the kayak incident, when I should have taken you to Manuela. The past month, as well, with the points—I took that too far more than once. I didn’t take a step back to consider how they were affecting you and I’m just really sorry. If you can give me a second cha—” she stopped herself, remembering what Dimitri told her. She shook her head. “Thank you so much for letting me tell you this, you didn’t have to and I’m really glad.”

“Byleth…” Edelgard frowned. “Is there anything else? You seem like there’s a lot going on in your mind.”

“There is.” Byleth nodded her head. “But I talked to my dad about it. And Blaiddyd. I just don’t think what you need to listen to from me is excuses and explanations, you don’t deserve that. An apology is what you need from me while I’m working on all the other stuff.”

Edelgard looked taken aback by the statement, but she nodded. “I guess I wanted to tell you that what happened was really scary. And I got distracted by the fire, but when I told Dorothea what happened it all came back in waves that I could have gotten really hurt. And when you brought our personal matters into the point system—that really stung especially after I had spent that morning defending you.”

She was quiet, so Byleth nodded. “I understand.”

“I just, it’s frustrating.” Edelgard waved her hands. “But this apology means a lot. And the fact that you let me have space and talked to Dorothea and Hubert about this… it’s all really important to me.”

“If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just let me know,” Byleth said. “You are very special to me, Edelgard. And I wanted to promise to you that this won’t happen again, I won’t  _ let _ it happen again.”

“I guess the other thing I would have asked you to do was to apologize to the others, but you did that already.” Edelgard looked Byleth over. “How about a hug? I think we both need one.”

Byleth nodded and they both stood. She was gentle at first, her hands barely ghosting over Edelgard’s hips, but then the other pulled her in tight. Relief flooded through her. She almost lost this. Byleth tugged her close and held her, knowing that she was lucky and grateful to have this moment.

Her forehead fell onto Edelgard’s shoulder and the other woman laughed. “Tired?”

“Very,” Byleth responded. “Are you going to Claude’s birthday next week? He said he invited you.”

“Absolutely not.” Edelgard shook her head, running her hand through Byleth’s hair. “I’m staying  _ far _ away from that.”

“Me too.”

“How about I come over, then?” Edelgard asked. “Something to look forward to?”

Byleth couldn’t hide the smile on her face as she made the offer. “Of course.”


	8. Claude's Birthday Bash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claude took off in the direction of the counselor’s cabins, knocking hard on Byleth’s door.
> 
> “Stop slamming,” she chided when she opened the door to a grinning Claude. “Happy Birthday,” she said dryly.
> 
> “We’re still on for today, right?”
> 
> “Of course, of course.” She looked to be only half awake, just out of the shower with damp hair. “Stay out of your way, you won’t get in trouble. You won’t get me in trouble. We all have a lovely day.”
> 
> Claude’s birthday calls for a grand celebration in the form of breaking many of the rules in the Garreg Mach handbook. Byleth is willing to help, but will they find themselves caught in the lies?
> 
> Black Eagles: -755  
Blue Lions: -410  
Golden Deer: -550

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to honestly one of my favorite chapters... that being said...
> 
> There is a trigger warning on this chapter for drug use: several 18+ characters smoke weed off page, but are seen high throughout the chapter
> 
> Welcome to Claude being a fool!

Claude woke up with a mental checklist and the feeling of yet another year passing in his life. Well, he didn’t necessarily feel older; but that’s what he was supposed to feel so he was going to go with it.

“Today’s the day!” he yelled as he jumped from his top bunk and slammed onto the ground. Claude was never one to celebrate his own birthday, but something about the absolute bullshit that he had planned seemed to invigorate him. He was excited that all of his schemes were coming together. He threw clothes on as the other boys wished him half-hearted  _ happy birthday _ ’s, considering that they were all still groggy from sleep. He traversed the foyer and ran into the girls’ half of the cabin.

“Hilda, we need to go meet the delivery man!” he hissed, shaking her. Hilda opened her eyes, glaring at her friend.

“Claude, I told you not to wake me up at seven a.m. I need beauty sleep, ya know?” Her whining woke up Marianne, who was curled into a ball next to her. “See, you woke up my girlfriend, too.”

“You said you would come.” Claude pouted and Hilda rolled her eyes, kissing Marianne’s forehead and climbing out of bed. She readjusted her tank top and shoved her feet into flip flops as Claude waited expectantly for his  _ happy birthday _ .

“Stop looking at me like that, you’re making me get out of bed.” She frowned at his moping. It was funny to see her hair not up; she always wore it in pigtails or a high ponytail. Her hair was even longer when it was down. “Let’s go.”

Hilda’s phone rang on the nightstand and she tossed it to Claude. He answered, smiling when it was the delivery arriving. “Great!” he said, hanging up the phone and putting it back. “They’re up at the tennis courts like we asked!”

“We better get going.” Hilda yawned. “You got the other stuff, right?”

“That’s arguably more important than this,” Claude said.

“Shut up both of you.” Lysithea groaned from her bunk. “Happy Birthday, but  _ please leave _ .”

Claude stuck out his tongue at her, but listened. Him and Hilda walked all the way to the tennis courts, where a truck from a party store was waiting for them.

“Byleth Eisner?” The man stepped out of the truck, his employees beginning to open the back.

“That is me,” Claude said confidently. “Would you be able to set them up on the courts?”

“Sure thing.” He moved towards the back of the truck.

“Byleth’s last name is  _ Eisner _ ?” Hilda asked, loud enough that the man sent back a questioning look.

“Hush,” Claude shushed her. “I need to go get a few more things ready, do you mind directing where to put the bounce houses?”

“I don’t know…”

“Hilda, it’s just telling people what to do. That’s your favorite activity.”

“Okay, you got me there,” she relented, “but don’t start without me.”

“Love you, we won’t start without you.” He smiled, leaving her to watch the men blow up the bounce houses. Claude took off in the direction of the counselor’s cabins, knocking hard on Byleth’s door.

“Stop slamming,” she chided when she opened the door to a grinning Claude. “Happy Birthday,” she said dryly.

“We’re still on for today, right?”

“Of course, of course.” She looked to be only half awake, just out of the shower with damp hair. “Stay out of your way, you won’t get in trouble. You won’t get  _ me _ in trouble. We all have a lovely day.”

“Are you  _ sure  _ that no one’s going to walk up towards the courts?” he investigated.

“Von Reigan, you spend more time there than me, have  _ you _ ever seen anyone at the courts?”

“Fair enough.”

“I guess my biggest concern is to be safe and don’t go overboard.” Her face softened, just a bit. “I’m serious, if something happens you need to come and get me. Everyone’s health is more important than getting in trouble.”

“Don’t worry, no repeats of last time,” Claude promised. “Are you sure you don’t want any?”

Byleth shook her head. “Nah, need to be sober.”

“Have fun, Eisner.” He winked.

“Call me that again and I’m going to actually run you over with the golf cart,” she warned.

“And there’s the Byleth we know.” Claude smiled. “You’ve had us worried. Just because you want to be nice doesn’t mean you need to go  _ super _ soft.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said. “Now get lost, von Reigan. Don’t do anything stupid.”

Arguably, his plan was all sorts of stupid, but it was  _ pre-planned and safe _ stupid.

* * *

“Marianne, what’s your girlfriend’s phone passcode?” Leonie asked, pulling her shirt on.

“Hilda, no capitals,” Marianne responded.

“No offense, but that’s really bad,” Lysithea said, getting ready to head over to the bounce houses. “Can you get her to… change it?”

“I tried.” Marianne laughed gently, a sound that was becoming more common the closer she was getting to her cabin mates. “She told me that she would forget anything else.”

“Even her own birthday would be better,” Lysithea said.

“I did suggest that, but she said her brother and father would guess it too easily.”

“... but not her name?” Lysithea was obviously bothered by the whole thing.

“I’m ordering pizza because we’re all going to want pizza and we’ll be too high to order it.” Leonie plopped into the bed next to Lysithea, asking her for help with toppings.

“I mean, we can just order it for you,” she suggested.

“I guess… can’t really order a pizza at seven in the morning.” Leonie sighed.

“Why are you getting high at seven in the morning, isn’t that really early?” Marianne asked.

“The planned time is eight thirty, actually,” Leonie joked. “Apparently we need to be sober by dinner? And I think Claude only rented the bounce houses until like… three p.m.”

“You guys are crazy,” Marianne said, sitting on the ground in front of the mirror to pin her hair up. Usually Hilda would help, but she was setting up the bounce houses. Marianne was happy, leading up until now she had  _ asked her _ if she was comfortable with Hilda being high around her. She felt loved with such a simple, yet ignored, question. “I’m excited to go down the slide.”

“Me too!” Lysithea bounced up. “Hey, Leonie. Can we also order the cinnamon buns on the pizza app?”

“Sure, I think it’s Hilda’s credit card,” she mumbled. “She can just make Claude Venmo her or something.”

“Awh, I wanted to try the weed.” Ignatz entered the room, moping.

“Yeah, but we don’t know how much your body can tolerate yet,” Raphael was explaining. He ruffled the other's hair. “You’re small, we don’t want to do anything reckless. So, possibly some other time where it can be more controlled.”

“Fine.” He kissed his boyfriend, Lysithea miming a gag.

Lorenz followed closely behind, looking surprisingly chipper for this time in the morning.

“Lorenz! What toppings on the pizzas?” Leonie asked, still typing in an order for Lysithea to call in later.

“How about a vegetable one?”

“Ready to head out?” Marianne asked the two that wouldn’t be participating in the smoking. They were going to hold down the fort so they wouldn’t be around the actual smoke. Claude had this planned out  _ way too much _ , it was obvious that he had been working on it for the better part of the month.

“Let’s go.” Lysithea jumped up, taking Hilda’s phone from Leonie. “I’ll do the pizza in a bit.”

“Remember to ask them to send to the tennis courts or else it will probably go to the main office,” Lorenz tried to tell her as Lysithea skipped out the door.

“See you soon.” Raphael kissed the top of Ignatz’s head before the three of them headed out. 

By the time they got to the bounce houses, Hilda had already left and all three of the sets were displayed on the courts. They had gotten a giant blow up slide, one of the obstacle courses, and then a regular bounce house with a basketball hoop inside.

“Slide, slide, slide,” Lysithea cheered, climbing up and sending herself down the slide. She was laughing the whole time, so Ignatz and Marianne followed, both climbing up much more slower than their friend had. By the time they got back to the bottom, even Marianne was laughing quietly to herself.

Ignatz and Lysithea were in the middle of running the obstacle courses about an hour later when the rest of the birthday gang showed up. Hilda immediately ran up to Marianne, tackling her with a hug. “I  _ missed you _ , baby.”

Marianne kissed her cheek. “I missed you, too,” she promised, but Hilda already had her eyes set on the slide.

Claude was yelling about his birthday, as expected, Ignatz having to stop him from mounting Raphael’s shoulders  _ again _ . It took a bit of convincing for them to realize that they weren’t coordinized enough to try the stunt at the moment. Lysithea took charge and herded them all into the bounce house where they would be stuck in a contained area for the moment. Within minutes Leonie saw that Lorenz had the basketball and tackled him to the ground of the bounce house.

“Hey! Not fair!” he yelled, trying to crawl out from underneath her. “You can’t do that in basketball.”

“Basketball with football rules,” Leonie insisted, finally taking the ball from him and throwing it to Claude, who dramatically dunked it into the basket that was hanging at the same height as his head. “We win!” she declared.

“Fuck yeah!” Claude joined their pile, gracefully succeeding in crushing Lorenz underneath them.

“Okay, let’s be careful of Lorenz,” Ignatz chided, helping his friend up from the bottom of the pile. Marianne looked him over and he appeared to be fine, continuing to jump.

“I’m already  _ tired _ ,” Hilda whined, suddenly crossing her legs mid jump and falling to the bottom of the bounce house to sit down. “Marianne, I can’t  _ move _ .”

“You can move,” her girlfriend promised, jumping directly next to her so that Hilda was popcorned into the air, laughing. Raphael took that as his cue to do the same, sending Hilda  _ way too far _ into the air for comfort. Marianne made sure that she got back to the ground safely, taking herself down with her girlfriend. They were both laughing, lying on the floor of the bounce house. 

Claude was busy hugging Lysithea and telling her how glad he was that she came to his birthday party. The girl was using this as an opportunity to be taking pictures and videos of everyone on Hilda’s phone, along with ordering the promised pizza. 

“I want to go down the slide.” Hilda grabbed her girlfriend’s hand, dragging her out of the bounce house and succeeding in almost falling straight onto the ground. 

“Can you get up yourself?” Marianne asked and Hilda nodded definitely, beginning to climb the slope. She was only halfway up when she began to tilt to the left. “Hilda, baby, you’re tilting to the left. Tilt right.” Hilda readjusted by tilting even further to the left. “Oh, baby.” Marianne rushed up to steady her, scared that she would fall off the edge without the slide.

“Let’s have a race,” Claude announced, grabbing Lorenz. They each stood on one side of the obstacle course and made sure Lysithea was watching to determine the winner. They were getting stuck at each part—both way too lanky to quite fit through the children’s toy. Claude came in first place, only because he chose to  _ jump off _ the slide rather than properly sit down. He almost took Lysithea out at the end of it.

They spent the next hour fucking around and doing their best to stay on the bounce houses and not on the concrete of the tennis courts. Claude had one unfortunate spill, but it only led to a skinned elbow that was dressed quickly by Marianne and her first aid kit.

Honestly, it was a fun day for everyone. It was no surprise that bouncing was ten times more fun when high, but was still free entertainment for those who didn’t smoke. And even better—they were getting away with it. The other counselors must have thought that they were just tucked away playing tennis as per usual. The birthday boy was having the time of his life when he decided to go down the tall slide again. Claude tumbled down the slide, landing at the bottom and coming face-to-face with Seteth.

“ _ What is the meaning of this? _ ”

* * *

Byleth was having an absolutely splendid day until there was slamming at her door.

Edelgard tensed noticeably underneath her, but Byleth hummed into the crook of her neck. “Don’t worry about it, they’ll go away.” She placed another kiss.

That was the plan until the slamming continued and then a strict voice, “Byleth, open this door now!”

“Ah, fuck,” Byleth muttered, sitting up and looking towards the door. She yelled, “One minute, Seteth!” 

“I said now.”

“Okay, okay,” she yelled. Her heart was racing, but she looked down and whispered to Edelgard, “I am so sorry, please head to the bathroom while I deal with him.”

“I thought you dealt with him.” Her eyes were wide.

“I mean, me too.”

“This isn’t funny.” He was trying the doorknob, thankfully Byleth had thought to  _ lock it _ before Edelgard had pushed her up against the wall.

“I said one fucking second.” She finally lost her temper as she helped Edelgard out of bed while looking for her own clothes.

She ended up tumbling towards the door and opening it with a pair of shorts on, a not-quite-buttoned button up, and obvious sex hair. “What do you want?”

“Excuse me, why are you not dressed?” Seteth sounded indignant and he was quite obviously fuming. Byleth was praying that it wasn’t Claude’s bullshit, but she knew that it was Claude’s bullshit.

“Why are  _ you _ slamming on my door?” Byleth countered. She was done for. “I can wear whatever I please in my own cabin.”

“I am here because  _ your campers _ ordered a collection of inflatable toys and appear to be under the influence of marijuana. However, it appears that there is some inappropriate behavior occurring here,. I would like to enter.”

“You can’t do that!” Byleth took a step forward, remembering possibly a second too late that her shirt was hanging open. Seteth averted his eyes, but she held her shirt closed with one hand and leaned on the doorway with the other. “Seteth, I was just having some fun with myself.”

“Excuse me?” He looked even more scandalized than before.

“I was pleasuring myself, Seteth,” she said dryly. Byleth thought she could die on the spot, having to say this to her advisor, but  _ anything _ would be better than him finding Edelgard. “There’s dildos and such on my bed, I don’t think you want to go in there.  _ Now _ , I have no clue what the fuck the Golden Deer are up to, but I will be talking to them tonight.”

Seteth narrowed his eyes. “I never said that it was the Golden Deer cabin.”

_ Shit _ .

“Well, um, they’re always the—”

“Byleth, put proper clothes on. We will have further discussion in my office.” Byleth felt her heart sink as he said the words, knowing that there was no way out of this one. “I will be waiting right here.”

“Okay,” she finally relented, closing the door and biting her lip. Immediately, she went to the bathroom where Edelgard was now wearing her robe, equally as grim faced as her. “I’m really sorry about this. I need to go take care of some things. Just sneak out after I leave and make sure Dorothea covers for you if anyone asks where you were.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“Eh, probably not.” Byleth scratched at her head. She brushed out her hair quickly, frowning at the hickey that was thankfully covered. “You left a mark.”

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s cute. Just might get me in giant trouble.” Byleth turned and kissed her before tucking her hair snuggly against her neck. “Don’t look so sad, cutie.”

“Seteth didn’t sound happy,” she said. “I hope everything goes okay.”

“Me too.” Byleth grimaced. “I’ll make time to talk once this all gets smoothed out.”

With that, she left the bathroom and quickly changed into new clothes. It was easier than finding where they had been flung off to. She grabbed her sunglasses and stepped back outside, a steaming Seteth awaiting to take her to the offices.

He was silent the entire walk.

Byleth was doing her best to try to think of a plan, but it was impossible. There was no way to excuse that she wasn’t doing her job and watching the campers and that  _ on top of it _ she knew that it was the Golden Deer causing a problem. What the hell was Seteth even doing up by the tennis court? Unless Claude messed up somewhere, but it wasn’t likely.

She took a seat in his office as Seteth sat down in his own chair,  _ hard _ .

“You do know that I spend a lot of time at Garreg Mach?” Seteth started, a dangerous glare in his eyes. “And I have never had something this  _ incompetent  _ happen.”

“I’m not quite sure what happened,” Byleth started, but Seteth wasn’t interested in playing her games.

“Take off your sunglasses when you’re speaking to me.” She did so. “Jeralt asked for me to give you a second chance after you spent a month not doing work and now  _ this happens _ . Do you see any of the other counselors having problems like this? Campers running around under the influence and ordering bounce houses without permission?” He leaned forward. “Except, I would be willing to guess that they did have permission from  _ someone _ . Now tell me, Byleth: how did you know that it was the Golden Deer?”

“Lucky guess,” she tried. “When is it not them?”

“ _ All _ of your campers are being drug tested and there  _ will _ be consequences when we get the results. Their cabins are being searched by the other staff members,” he informed. “I request that you are tested.”

“Really?” She raised her eyebrows. “I’m obviously not high.”

“As for your inappropriate behavior.” Seteth ignored her. “I believe it would be best if you hand in your resignation. I do not want to fire you, but I will.”

Byleth’s heart dropped. If anything, she would have been glad to leave this stupid job earlier in the month. But now, the campers had grown on her. Speaking of…

“Are they going to get in trouble?” Byleth finally asked instead of arguing. “They’re all good kids, they make mistakes.”

“The results of the drug tests will determine that and the room searches.”

Byleth sunk into her chair. Perhaps it was right to receive punishment, after all. She had only been treating this job seriously for a week and he was right about her being a shitty counselor. Pushing the blame from herself would only mean a harsher punishment on the campers.

“Okay, I knew about it,” Byleth finally said after sitting in the silence. She had promised to be kinder to them and she wasn’t going to rat them out.

“That is what I thought—” Seteth was interrupted by someone sprinting into the room.

“It was all my fault,” Claude was out of breath (and clearly still somewhat high). “Byleth knew about it because I thought she was going to be cool with it when I was planning the party. She told me that I couldn’t do it and threatened to tell if I was going to continue with my plan. She didn’t know what day it was going to be, so I kept it very hush from there. The pizza and the inflatable stuff is my fault.”

“Sit down, Claude.” Seteth groaned, looking skeptically at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be in the infirmary until you’re sober?”

“I’m sober,” Claude lied, fidgeting in his seat and looking over to Byleth. “The drug test came back negative on all of us, Seteth.”

“It is not appropriate to lie, Claude von Reigan.” Seteth directed his anger towards him. Byleth was about to speak up, but Claude kicked her leg under the desk.

“Manuela was still running the last few tests, but they didn’t find anything.” He smiled. Byleth wanted to point out how much like weed he  _ smelt _ , but she kept quiet. She didn’t expect him to come forward, not like this. “I’m sorry for ordering the stuff, it was for my Birthday Bash, you see.”

Seteth was not happy with his signature grin. “I will have to speak to the other directors, but there will be consequences. This surely warrants a call home.”

Claude looked a bit upset by that declaration, but still continued to defend her. She didn’t know  _ why _ . “I understand.” She had been so unkind to all of them up until now. Why would Claude go out of his way to place the blame on himself for something that she assured he wouldn’t get in trouble for?

“Goddess, Seteth, I leave camp for two hours and come back to twenty calls from yo—” Jeralt stopped mid sentence when he saw Byleth and Claude sitting across from his coworker. “What is the meaning of this?”

“The campers from the Golden Deer cabin were found this morning under the influence of marijuana and ordering giant inflatable slides and bounce houses to the camp.” Seteth scowled.

“Not high; the drug tests came back negative,” Claude was sure to correct, raising his hand. Byelth’s dad looked at him, knowing there was no way he _wasn’t_ _high_ with the far-off look in his eyes.

“And then when I went to go find their noticeably  _ absent _ counselor, she was… participating in sexual activities in her cabin.” He looked pained to say it—not as pained as her dad was to  _ hear it _ . Byleth was cringing, not wanting to look at her dad.

“With a camper? Counselor? Someone not from here?” Jeralt furrowed his brows.

“Oh, no. With herself,” Seteth informed.

Jeralt wiped his face with his hand. “Then I don’t understand why that concerns you, or why  _ I  _ needed to hear it.” 

“I didn’t want to know, either,” Claude volunteered.

“And if you are having that conversation, why is the brat here? Follow some protocol,” Jeralt said. “Campers and counselors shouldn’t be in the same room for conversations such as these. You and I can discuss what happened and how to go about it, but I recommend that you send these two out of your office if you are going to continue like this.”

Seteth shrank back ever so slightly, as Claude took it as his cue to get up. “Thank you, Mr. Eisner.”

“Don’t call me that.” He groaned. “Drink some water, would you? And, kiddo. We can talk about this later.”

“Sorry,” Byleth muttered, leaving the room and waiting for the door to shut behind her and them to get down the hall before talking to Claude, “Why did you do that?”

“It is my fault,” Claude said, clearly excited to be free from the office. “Your  _ girlfriend _ told me where you were when she joined us for drug testing. Hey, I might be an asshole, but I take fault where fault is due.” He smiled.

Byleth felt warmth rush through her body. “Thank you, Claude.”

“Ew, don’t call me by my first name. It feels weird coming from you.” He laughed.

“By the way, how did you manage to get a  _ negative _ drug test? You’re high as fuck.”

“Connections.”

* * *

“Well, that’s the last of them.” Mercedes wrote down the wrong results for Hilda’s sample, indicating that she was not under the influence of any substance while she was trying to touch her girlfriend’s eyelashes with her own. “Dorothea, how come yours came back positive? You weren’t even at the party.”

Dorothea rolled her eyes, obviously less affected than the rest of the bunch. “Do you think I need  _ him _ to get my weed?”

“Fair enough.” Mercedes smiled wide at the suspects who all now had forged results. “Don’t think I’m going to forget that you made me handle all of your urine and falsify your medical records because you ordered a pizza to the wrong place,” she said with a terrifyingly cheerful tone.

“Duly noted,” Lorenz responded, his eyes wide with fear. “How so?”

“Well, I accept both PayPal and Venmo.” she offered.

“I’m going to be honest,” Manuela said, sitting in the corner of the nurse’s office and letting Mercedes take the lead, “I’m impressed by you guys. You all smoked a reasonable amount, hid the evidence, and only those of you over eighteen are high. For causing this much trouble, you are unreasonably responsible.” She looked at her phone. “And oh dear, Seteth wants to give all of you a presentation on the dangers of drugs.”

“I don’t think I want to hear that boomer talk about weed,” Dorothea said, earning a chorus of laughs. There wasn’t enough space for everyone to be  _ in _ the nurse's office, so half of them were sitting outside. Annette had been panicking about her drug test even though it was obvious that she hadn’t smoked any weed. “Can we skip?”

Manuela shook her head. “Just humor him, he seems very pissed off.” She was scrolling through an obviously  _ long _ text from her coworker. “If you keep quiet and nod, it will be over sooner rather than later.”

With that declaration, Manuela sent the negative drug tests to Seteth and everyone walked in one big group to the dining hall, where Byleth and Claude were already waiting.

“Sorry,” Claude waved to his cabin as they all entered the room, “apparently the pizza guy messed up. He went to the main office and asked where the tennis courts were.”

“So our pizza is gone?” Raphael looked nothing short of destroyed.

“Yep.”

“You guys can grab food from the dining hall after this,” Byleth said, standing pretty stiffly at the front of the room. A projector and screen were set up for Seteth’s presentation.

“Thank you. I love you,” Hilda made sure to tell her.

“Thanks, love you, too,” Byleth said, frowning. She was looking in the direction of Edelgard, who was sitting with her cabin.

“Awh, your girl won’t care that I said ‘I love you.’” Hilda waved her off and Byleth shook her head. The Golden Deer all took seats at their usual table, Lysithea, Ignatz, and Marianne doing their best to quiet them all down.

Seteth walked in and everyone went silent. Byleth was shifting nervously in front of the room. He stood next to her and plugged his laptop in. The screen lit up with a really  _ medical _ looking presentation about the dangers of marajuana.

“I want to start off by saying I am disappointed by all of you. You all had been doing so well under Byleth’s point system, I don’t understand where it went wrong.” He looked towards the whiteboard that still hadn’t been changed since the kayak incident, apart from the three hundred points the Blue Lions earned in capture the flag. “Is that… why is everyone in the negatives?”

“Oh, that’s not the negatives.” Byleth shook her head. “It’s, um, bullet points.”

“Ah, very well.” Seteth bought it much to everyone’s amusement. “Well then, good job Black Eagles.”

“Thank you,” Edelgard said, realizing that her cabin had been in dead last for a while at this point. 

“I wanted to talk to you all today about the dangers of marajuana,” Seteth said, glaring at each and every one of the campers as his Gucci shoes clicked on the floor of the dining hall. Marianne was trying her best to stop her girlfriend from laughing, but she was in tears from trying to hold it in. “The marajuana is a dangerous substance that is addictive to the users.”

“Okay, boomer,” Leonie managed to whisper to Lorenz who had a hard time keeping a straight face after that.

Seteth then continued to give the driest presentation that they had ever heard. It was reminiscent of the D.A.R.E. program in middle school, but somehow even more uninformed and bizarre. Even the Blue Lions were having a hard time holding in their laughter as Seteth went on and on about how they would die premature and painful deaths from smoking weed (at tops) once a month.

Hilda frowned, leaning into Claude. “Can someone tell him that I smoked some weed? Not shot up heroin?” He hushed her.

“Okay, let’s quit the lecture.” Finally they were rescued by none other than Byleth’s dad, who was frowning at the whole presentation that Seteth had put up. “I said talk to them, not imprison them.”

“They need to know the dangers of marajuana.”

“It’s a bit of weed, not cocain.” Jeralt looked to be done with Seteth’s meddling for the day. “Just get some dinner, everyone. Don’t smoke weed on camp grounds, save that shit for when you’re home. End of lecture.”

“They need to have some sort of punishment,” Seteth insisted.

“Oh, um.” Jeralt looked towards the kitchen staff, scratching his head. “No dessert tonight.”

With a couple more glares, Seteth left and all of the children were free to get dinner (now an hour late). 

“Kiddo, I talked to Seteth.” Jeralt caught his daughter before she could join the Black Eagles for dinner. “You still have your job, but I would be careful. You’re on  _ really thin ice _ .”

“Awh, but we love Byleth,” Leonie said, leaning into her and butting into the conversation. “Don’t fire her.”

Her dad laughed, patting Byleth’s head. “I know that you let them do it. Just be more careful.”

“Thanks Dad.” Byleth smiled at him, relief flooding her body. Was she going to kill the Golden Deer? Probably. But for now, Dorothea and Edelgard had invited her to sit with them for dinner.


	9. Coming Out of My Cage (at a Campfire)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Since everyone else is just being so brave and friendly,” she tried to grasp for all of the buzzwords that she could think of for gaining points, “Dorothea helped me figure out I was gay and I’m super grateful.”
> 
> “Yeah, we had to watch it happen,” Caspar scoffed and the other campers agreed.
> 
> “That’s not what I meant.” Edelgard crossed her arms, but even her strictest tone wasn’t enough to hide that she was flustered.
> 
> Bonds between campers grow stronger as the new point system is revealed and all of the cabins have a moment of reflection and bravery around the campfire. Is this the start of them doing just fine?
> 
> Black Eagles: 0  
Blue Lions: 0  
Golden Deer: 0

Hubert now had a new routine after almost burning down the cabin. He would wake up in the morning and brush his fingers through Ferdinand’s hair until he woke up. It always took a few times, the boy just grumbling and cuddling even closer to him. Sometimes playing with his hair would send him right back to sleep. Eventually, Ferdinand would sit up and let him crawl out of bed. From there, he would be able to make his coffee and get ready for the day before Edelgard came over.

If Caspar was watching, he would give Ferdinand a good shove just for safe measure.

Linhardt complained how he thought _ he _ was the gayest boy in the cabin, to which everyone ignored him and Hubert told him to go back to sleep.

This particular morning, Dorothea beat Edelgard to the boys’ room (and to Hubert’s coffee).

“Edie’s talking to Bern,” she explained, deciding that this particular morning she was allowed to take ownership of her friend’s coffee.

Ferdinand exited the bathroom, taking a sip from the cup that Hubert had been holding and sitting on the bed next to him. “Good morning, Dorothea.”

“Oh, Ferdie.” She smiled, taking a slow sip of her coffee and staring at him over the lisp. “How’s married life treating you?”

She watched on pleased as Ferdinand choked on the coffee.

In the other room, Edelgard waited until Petra got into the shower to talk to her roommate. “Bernadetta, do you mind if I talk with you for a moment?”

“Oh, um! Sure,” she squeaked. She wished that she would quit it with the _ Bernadetta _, but just the thought of correcting the woman scared her even more. She had been so intense the two weeks prior, while she was fighting with Byleth. It was scary.

“I just wanted to apologize to you,” she said, playing with the ends of her hair. “I realized that I forced you to do a lot of things with this cabin that you didn’t want to.”

“It’s okay,” Bernie waved her off, “it happens to me all the time.”

Edelgard frowned. “That makes it worse. I should have been more attentive and _ cared _ about how you were feeling.”

“Thank you,” Bernie finally said. “Did you um… do this because Byleth apologized to you?”

“Yes, to be honest.” Edelgard looked away. “It made me think about how I was treating you quite similarly.”

Bernie nodded, not feeling nervous for once when speaking to Edelgard. “That’s good that you two are getting along. You like her, don’t you?”

Edelgard didn’t respond and instead looked at the door. “I’m going to go get my coffee, come over when Petra is ready so we can talk about what to do for the day.”

“Eek! I’m sorry.” Bernie flinched, but Edelgard just shook her head.

“You’re okay, I’m not upset,” she promised before leaving.

By the time they all got settled, they had thrown out at least twenty different ideas for spending their day to no avail. They had to be free by dinner time, where Byleth was hosting a campfire night for all three of the cabins.

“We never do what I want to do.” Linhardt was being extremely insistent this morning. It was true, after all. He rarely had time to read his research since Byleth actually took charge. No more disappearing for hours in his cabin while his cabin mates wandered and attempted to murder each other.

“All you do is sleep,” Caspar argued.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Linhardt said. “As much as I would _ love _ to have a day where we all just go nap in the sun, I do more than that.”

“Okay, what would that be?” Edelgard asked, her patience waning. 

“We can sit in the sun under the trees and read some books,” he said, pulling out a couple of his books from underneath the bed, borrowed from Hanneman. “It will be fun and relaxing and I can get some actual work done for once.”

“Please!” Bernie perked up, the first time she spoke her opinion on any of the ideas. “I have a book that I’m reading right now and it would be nice to finish it up!”

“I think that settles it.” Dorothea smiled. “If Bern and Lin want to do something and agree on it, we might as well go with it.”

“Oh, reading… yay.” Caspar tried to be excited, but it never worked well with him and his ADHD. The thought of sitting there for hours was… painful, but he also couldn’t stop looking at the smiling Bernie. Even if he couldn’t be excited, it was worth it to make her day. 

Not all of them had books, but they remembered that in the common area there had always been a “book share” of sorts where they could take a book and return new ones if they pleased. As it turned out, they were all Harlequin romance novels that no one else wanted. Dorothea grabbed the first one sporting a cowboy.

They found a shady part of the camp where there was enough space for all of them to lie in the sun (or shade if they wanted).

“Where’s _ my _ sexy cowboy that is going to save me from small town living?” Dorothea lamented, rolling onto her stomach and using a sweatshirt to prop herself up. The cover of her book had a clearly greased up cowboy who was shirtless and holding a lasso. “Why were all of these straight? I guarantee you that no man’s dick is this good.”

“Did you skip right to the sex scenes?” Edelgard frowned.

“That’s the only part of cishet relationships that could possibly be interesting,” Dorothea explained. “Where’s the _ yearning _ ? Who’s the pillow princess and who’s the butch with a collection of sex toys?” She stopped asking questions when Edelgard hit her in the head with the book she was reading. Hers was a Christmas romance in which they were _ snowed in _. It was equally horrible.

“What does that make you, the pillow princess or the butch?” Edelgard laughed.

“Bitch, we all know I’m the femme with a collection of sex toys.” Dorothea skimmed the pages. “Stop whining, girl. Tie the cowboy up.”

Meanwhile, Hubert was sitting with his back against the tree nearby, trying to tune out the girls’ conversation. He had brought his own book from home, so it wasn’t as painful as reading the romance. Ferdinand, however, had his head in his friend’s lap and was steadily making his way through an office romance. Hubert was holding his book up with his right hand, steadily stroking Ferdinand’s hair out of habit and only pausing to flip the page. The other man was constantly nuzzling closer to his hand, much to his amusement.

Petra was reading one of Linhardt’s books, clearly intrigued by the topic. She had very strong reading comprehension, especially for a fifteen year old reading in something that wasn’t in her first language. Linhardt was also having the time of his life, finally finding an (almost) quiet time to read his research.

Caspar had his book open in his lap, but he was still on the first page. He was too busy watching Bernie read the fantasy book that she was on the last few chapters of. She was flipping the pages quickly, her eyes moving back and forth as she went from line to line. Caspar smiled as Bernie gasped at the page, holding onto the book tightly and bringing it closer to her face. It was nice to see her so consumed in something and having a good time. He honestly sat watching her for over an hour.

“Was it good?” Caspar asked as Bernie closed the book, putting it down next to her.

“It was so cool!” Bernie’s face lit up at the question. “So it’s about a person who is bonded with crows and they need to fight the sky god! They get a cool sword delivered to them by the crows and their best friend and cousin also get powers… _ oh _ and they become friends with an ancient being!” She paused, looking over to Caspar. “Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ramble.”

“No, no.” Caspar shook his head, putting down his own book (still on page one). “It sounds really cool, I would love to hear more about it.”

His heart soared when she smiled, picking up the book and talking animatedly about it until they had to go to lunch. It was nice to hear her so excited about a topic and honestly Caspar could listen to her talk all day. She leaned close to him to show certain lines that she had loved and he had a hard time keeping his attention. Her hair smelled nice.

“Hey guys, how’s your day going.” Byleth joined, lying down next to Edelgard and Dorothea. She placed a quick kiss on her cheek and Edelgard smiled. “What the _ fuck _are you reading Arnault?”

“Sexy cowboys.” She slid it over. “We got them from the book share, you guys have shitty books.”

“I will be completely honest, I have some actually _ good _ lesbian erotica if you want to borrow it the next time you have a reading day.”

“I hate all of the conversation that I’m hearing,” Linhardt announced.

“Well, on that note I will take my leave.” Byleth got up. “I need to do my rounds, Seteth is very much on my case.”

“Don’t get fired,” Edelgard said. “See you at the campfire.”

* * *

Even though Bernie, Caspar, and Linhardt were having the time of their lives, the rest of the Black Eagles were excited to get to the campfire. They were just going to chat and hang out and Byleth was providing them marshmallows and the makings for smores.

Byleth had taken the time to explain that she was starting the point system from zero and that it wouldn’t be possible to lose points as punishment. “As much as some of us were having fun, I don’t think everyone was on board,” she finished explaining.

“I was personally hoping to reach negative one thousand.” Claude frowned. “And I’m serious, I don’t think you necessarily need to change the points, I think it became a game pretty quickly.”

“It might have been a game for you, von Reigan, but for some it wasn’t,” Byleth said. “From now on y’all are starting at zero and you will get points for being team-oriented.”

“Can we smoke weed?” a voice called out from the Golden Deer.

“Pinelli, don’t make me come over there,” Byleth yelled back. “Don’t smoke the marajuana, you will die.” She mimicked Seteth, making everyone laugh. “Just get around the campfire and have a fun time and eat marshmallows.”

“Do you often cook marshmallows?” Petra asked as Bernie showed her how she would put it on a stick and hold it over the fire.

“Not really, it’s something you do when you go camping in the woods. Or summer camp,” she explained, doing her best to not get crushed by the large amount of campers crowding around the single fire. Caspar did his best to stand behind Bernie and make sure she wasn’t getting pushed around.

Eventually, everyone got settled and dissolved into conversations with one another. Byleth was going around and chatting with everyone, not staying with one group for too long. Edelgard watched on, happy that she was getting along with everyone and that the campers seemed open to welcoming her.

“So, I’m thinking we should get ahead in this points game.” Dorothea appeared next to Edelgard, taking the open seat. “Since we’re not in the negative eight hundreds anymore.”

“I don’t think it was _ that _ bad.”

“It was very close.”

“What are you planning?” Edelgard asked. Unfortunately, she found out the answer quickly.

“Byleth, you want us to be… how did you put it… team-oriented?” Dorothea asked, looking over the fire to her camp counselor and standing up.

“Sure,” she responded, clearly not paying attention. 

“Everyone! I have an announcement!” Dorothea yelled, making sure that the entire circle of campers were looking at her before continuing in possibly the fakest voice from her that her cabin mates had _ ever _ heard. “I haven’t really ever been able to say this before… but I’m gay.” This led to muttering from practically everyone around the campfire: mostly, _ but we knew that _ and _ she’s been saying this since day one _ . “I know… I know, it’s shocking. But, _ truly _, I wouldn’t have been able to reach this conclusion and feel comfortable enough to share if it wasn’t for my beautiful and kind cabin mates.”

“You told us this the first day we met—OW!” Ferdinand yelled as Dorothea kicked his shin as hard as she could.

“This cabin is just filled with such kind and loving people.” She managed to tear up at this point. “I’m very comfortable to say that I love women, men are sometimes okay, and I’m probably—eh, more like definitely—polyam.”

“That’s very nice Dorothea,” Byleth said, ignoring the wink that the tearful girl offered her at the _ polyam _ declaration. “Now if we can just—”

“Do I get points for my cabin being filled with lovely people?”

“Uh, sure, I guess.” Byleth frowned. “Now—”

“I’m gay!” Ferdinand stood up quickly, still nursing his shin as he threw an arm around his cabin mate. “Thank you for giving me the courage to say this, valuable friend.”

“Of course, fellow camper that I love dearly.”

At this point, the entire campfire circle was groaning at the forced interaction between the two Black Eagles. They could see where this was going a mile away and didn’t want to be surrounded by the biggest suck-ups of the camp.

“Can we wrap it up?” Byleth asked. “Both of you will get points for being so ‘brave,’” she put it in air quotes because not to be dismissive of Dorothea—but she had asked her out _ more than once _ since the camp started, “but I would like this to be done sooner rather than later.”

“Um.” Edelgard stood up as well, slightly more nervous than the other two (Dorothea now had her arm around her dearest Ferdie, but she was attempting to put him in a chokehold). “Since everyone else is just being so brave and friendly,” she tried to grasp for all of the buzzwords that she could think of for gaining points, “Dorothea helped me figure out I was gay and I’m super grateful.”

“Yeah, we had to watch it happen,” Caspar scoffed and the other campers agreed.

“That’s _ not _ what I meant.” Edelgard crossed her arms, but even her strictest tone wasn’t enough to hide that she was flustered. She could see Byleth laughing at her across the circle. “Anyways, I’m glad that I had a safe community to come out to.”

“Awh, we love you, Edie.” Dorothea hugged her, before sending a pointed look towards Linhardt.

“Really?” The boy frowned, before lazily taking a stand. “Hi, I’m Linhardt and I’m a homosexual,” he said dryly, looking in Byleth’s direction. “Good enough?”

“Goddess above,” Byleth muttered.

“Is this an AA meeting?” Caspar looked at his friend incredulously. He would do many things for points, but this wasn’t one of them.

“What is the A...A?” Petra asked, clearly trying to follow the levels of sarcasm emanating from her cabin. It was a bit much with so many differing tones.

“I am also gay.” Hubert stood, said his line, then sat back down, not one for the dramatics.

“I um.” Everyone went silent when Bernadetta stood. Caspar’s eyes widened as he watched her stand in front of the fire, all the attention on her. “I’m, uh, not gay, but,” she said, it dawning on her what she was about to say. “Well, I don’t really know about that, I guess. I’m—” she took a deep breath and looked at Caspar. She closed her eyes. “I’m nonbinary. I think. Well, more than _ I think _ but I’m definitely not a girl. I’m fine with she/her pronouns, but I also like they/them. But, call me _ Bernie _. Or Bern—that’s fine, Dorothea—but I hate Bernadetta.” She opened her eyes, biting her lip hard. “That’s what I wanted to say.”

She essentially collapsed back into the seat next to Caspar. She felt like she was going to die… but at the same time… it felt good. She was finally able to say what had been on her mind the whole time.

“That was so cool, Bernie.” Caspar leaned into her, making sure not to overstep her boundaries.

“Bernie, Bernie!” Dorothea chanted and the rest of the cabin followed suit—even the usual stragglers when it came to showing any form of affection.

“Thank you for sharing,” Byleth said (with much more compassion for Bernie than for the last group of campers). “Anyone else?” she asked sarcastically.

She wasn’t impressed when Ingrid raised her hand. “Well, I’m definitely not straight. But I’m also seventeen and still figuring things out.”

There were mutters of agreement throughout the Blue Lions, none of them claiming their queerness quite as definitively as the Black Eagles. Caspar _ knew _ that there was huge bi energy within that cabin

“Sylvain, how about you?” Dimitri nudged him, ready to hear his declaration of how much he loved women—the same spiel that he delivered almost hourly. Instead, he just sat there silently, looking into the fire with a strange look on his face. The campfire grew silent, but he never spoke, just looked on.

“Well, since we are all sharing,” Claude stood, an obvious attempt to call the attention off of the struggling camper, “I am very bisexual. I mean, have you ever seen a man more bi?” He motioned to himself and even Hubert chuckled a bit at his dramatics.

“I’m gay,” Ignatz offered.

“And I’m pan!” Raphael added, putting an arm around him.

“I’m very straight,” Hilda said, as she held hands with her _ girlfriend _.

“What is wrong with you guys?” Leonie asked, but she had the glint of laughter in her eyes. “Definitely bi as hell.”

“You guys are truly something,” Byleth said.

“I am also bisexual,” Lorenz added.

“And I just like sapphic,” Marianne said softly, “still not really sure on a different label.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m aro/ace,” Lysithea said, standing tall. It was easy to tell that she was nervous, looking at her cabin mates for support as they all gave her a thumbs up. “I’m only fifteen, so it can change, but I don’t think I _ want _ it to. I mean, I understand how it’s freeing for some people to be told that they’re not locked into their sexuality, but for me it’s a bit… dismissive,” she said. “And I really like being aro and I just want people to respect that.”

“Lysithea!” Hilda cheered and her cabin started clapping for her. She looked flustered, but also relieved. Bernie could relate to that and it was nice to see someone else come out that had been a bit less open about it.

After they had all settled down, all of the campers grew quiet. The circle order had rounded finally back to Byleth, who was staring into the fire. It was hard to see in the jumping light, but her face had grown soft. She was clasping her hands tight together in her lap.

“I just…” her voice started off as quiet before growing in volume and confidence “...I wish I had a support system like this when I came out as bi.” She said the last word like a whisper. The silence stood and Byleth fidgeted in her seat. “_ Okay _, move on.”

With the usual irritated command from Byleth, the campfire dissolved into conversations and stories. The campers sharing the stories of not only queer pain, but the joy—finally finding a label, first kisses, buying their first pride flags.

During one particularly animated tale by Claude, Edelgard slipped away from the circle and reappeared next to Byleth. She sat close enough that their thighs were touching, Byleth continuing to look forward. “I just wanted to check in.”

“Thank you,” Byleth said. Then, surprisingly, she began to tell her own story. “I came out when I was sixteen. I love my dad, but also… we don’t talk about things. He said it was okay, but it was still awkward and uncomfortable. I felt that I shouldn’t have _ said _ anything. It’s hard to be proud of something you don’t talk about. It’s hard to talk with others when you never learned how.”

“I’m happy that you shared with me,” Edelgard insisted. She placed her hand gingerly over hers. Byleth unfolded them and took Edelgard’s in her own. She let out a shaky breath and squeezed her eyes shut, leaning her head on the other’s shoulder. Edelgard wouldn’t say that no one saw them—but they didn’t comment. She was glad that her fellow campers acknowledged and respected Byleth’s pain. “I don’t talk to my dad much, either. And my mom left him and married another man, so I don’t see her much.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So I can’t really imagine coming out. Not because I think he’ll do something, but because there’s really no need to tell him.” Edelgard sighed. “As much as I give Dorothea shit for it, it’s really good for me to have friends who are as out as her. It shows me that it’s not something I should be ashamed of and it’s nice to have someone to share with.”

“Apparently really share.” Byleth scoffed, but it was easy to tell that she wasn’t serious. “What were you saying about her _ helping you find out _? Were you and her a thing?”

“We just fooled around a bit at the beginning of the summer,” Edelgard hit her with her free hand, “nothing more. What, are you jealous?”

“Perhaps,” Byleth squeezed her hand with a small smile, still teasing. “How could I not be? You’re a cutie.”

“Oh, stop.” Edelgard looked away, a blush on her cheeks.

“I would kiss you silly if I wasn’t scared of Seteth crawling out of the woods.” Byleth cuddled closer to her. “Thank you. For cheering me up.”

“It was nothing.”

“I don’t have understanding about what happened.” Petra walked up to Dorothea as she roasted marshmallows. “Why was everyone talking about relations?”

“Well, here there’s a common misconception that everyone is straight—meaning that girls date boys and boys date girls—but that’s not true. So, since a lot of us like different people or fall between those lines of gender themselves, we come out to let people know. It’s comforting for some people, not so much for others.” Dorothea did her best to explain. “I hope that helps, ask questions if you need, darling.”

“People don’t like girls?” Petra tilted her head. “And not all boys have liking of boys?”

“You know, it sounds like you have this down better than most.” Dorothea laughed, leaning her head on her shoulder. 

“Thank you, Dorothea.”

“No problem, I told you you’re free to ask questions.”

“You help me much,” Petra continued, “you never make jokes of me. You tell me also when the others teach me bad words. It is of very importance to me.”

“You are also very important to me.” Dorothea couldn’t stop smiling. “You are always so sweet and I love sharing a room with you.”

“I have much gratitude.”

On the other side of the circle, Ferdinand was attempting to roast a marshmallow unsuccessfully, each one lighting on fire. By the time he got to the third one, Hubert placed his hand over Ferdinand’s and led his marshmallow _ away _ from the jumping flames and over the glowing embers instead.

“That way you won’t light it on fire,” Hubert said, urging him to twist the stick so that all the sides cooked evenly.

“I could have done it,” Ferdinand said, but he looked to Hubert and smiled. Hubert felt a sort of flutter in his stomach and it took all of his willpower to not dump Ferdinand in the fire to make it stop. Maybe that was what Edelgard was talking about in regards to Byleth? The same feeling of restlessness and warmth when they shared a bed.

Dorothea had told him that they were _ in love _, but Hubert would beg to differ. He just liked the closeness.

Caspar noticed that he couldn’t find Bernie by the campfire. He looked around and spotted her away from the main circle, looking out into the woods. As much as he didn’t want to bother her, he knew that it would be best to check in.

“Hey, Bernie,” Caspar said, making sure to announce that he was there so as not to scare the person. “Everything okay?”

“Oh, hi.” Bernie turned around, shoving her hands further into the pockets of her sweatshirt. “Everything is fine. It’s just a lot—you know? I’ve… I’ve never said any of that stuff out loud before, much less to such a large group of people.”

“It was really cool of you,” Caspar ensured. He was beginning to grow nervous, trying not to think _ too _ hard about what he came to do. “Um, so there’s that um,” he had to force the words he was _ trying _ to say, “camp dance. And I’m assuming that Byleth is going to make us go. And… I was wondering if you would like to be my date?”

Bernie pulled her sweatshirt up past her mouth, muffling her words. “Why would you want to go with me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I’m not a girl,” Bernie said. “Are you okay with going with me even if I’m not a girl?”

“Of course.” He laughed nervously. “I’m bi, anyways. I didn’t say it because I’m still not super confident in it, but I think that’s what I would like to call myself.” He trailed off before seeing that Bernie didn’t plan on responding. “You said you weren’t sure about gendered terms, but what do you think of ‘cute?’” 

“That’s fine.” She looked over at him, clearly confused. “Why?”

“You’re really cute, Bernie.” He managed to say, even though he was clearly embarrassed. “I would like to take you to the dance if it would be okay with you.”

“Oh I—yeah!” Bernie managed, though she tucked her knees up to her chest. She wouldn’t look at him, but Caspar was glowing with energy from the response. “You’re… cute, too.”

Caspar was glad that she wasn’t looking at him because he was flustered beyond belief.


	10. Is This the Summer Romance Byleth Preached About?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Mercie,” Dorothea greeted as the other two took to the floor, “can I have this dance as part of my payment for the little incident?”
> 
> Mercedes took her hand with a light laugh. “My PayPal account is my name.”
> 
> “Okay, then a dance just because our dresses compliment each other and I would like some company?” Dorothea didn’t miss a beat.
> 
> There’s nothing quite like the mystical energy of a summer camp sponsored dance with friends made throughout the summer that captures young love. Will the Blue Lions be able to communicate their feelings as the summer nears its close?
> 
> Black Eagles: 69  
Blue Lions: 69  
Golden Deer: 69

Ingrid let her two friends put makeup on her, but drew the line at a dress. There was absolutely no way she was going to wear such a flimsy piece of material. Annette and Mercedes both looked lovely in theirs, but it wasn’t the style she wanted to go for.

She buttoned the last button on her shirt and tossed the jacket over her shoulders. It would be too hot to wear it much, but it was for the overall look. Her hair was hanging loose—Annette insisted on curling it—and she was thankful that Mercedes listened to her pleas of only  _ light _ makeup. Ingrid smiled at herself in the mirror. She wasn’t one to get excited over dances, but she looked handsome.

“So, what do you girls think?” Ingrid asked as she joined her other two cabin mates on the porch. Mercedes was wearing a beautiful long gown with a shawl, while Annette had her hair down and was wearing more of a spring dress. They both looked stunning and for a moment Ingrid felt so out of place for not wearing a dress.

“Oh my Goddess!” Annette squealed, running forward and taking Ingrid’s hands. “Look at you! You look so amazing—could use a  _ smidge _ more makeup—but you look stunning.”

“I say the amount she has on is just right.” Mercedes joined, tucking a curl away from in front of Ingrid’s face. “Dimitri will be excited.”

“I think he will be looking at you two more,” Ingrid admitted. “I don’t look as feminine as you two and—”

“Believe me, Dimitri will be looking at you,” Annette insisted and Ingrid tried not to get her hopes up.

“Why do we have to do this?” Felix emerged from the cabin and onto the porch, looking sharp but  _ pissed _ . He didn’t understand how rich this camp had to be for them to throw an actual ball. With ballroom dancing. Part of it had to be a result of the fallout with Claude’s little stunt. Seteth wouldn’t take his chances with music that could result in vulgar dancing not fit for Garreg Mach Summer Camp.

“For the fun?” Annette offered, unwilling to let someone as negative as Felix interrupt her joy. Eventually, the other boys trickled out of the cabin, wearing similar outfits to their friend. It wasn’t like any of them were super prepared for a fancy dance, so most had just grabbed a pair of dress pants and a button down shirt. Ingrid fidgitted with her collar, waiting for Dimitri to come out.

Mercedes took hold of her arm, leaning on her shoulder. “You look  _ handsome _ ,” she assured, sensing her stress. “Just relax.”

“Thank you,” Ingrid said, right as Dimitri walked out onto the porch. He looked beautiful—she was used to seeing him dressed up for their family’s events, but this was the first time that she was also wearing a suit.

“Oh, Ingrid,” were his first words, coming up to her as Mercedes abandoned her side. “You look—”

“Picture time!” a voice interrupted, surprisingly loud despite the lack of her megaphone. “Boys, line the fuck up.”

“You’re not taking my picture.” Felix crossed his arms.

“I’m taking your picture, Fraldarius.” Byleth waved her phone, trying to get them to line up on the porch. She was wearing a tight black dress that they all knew would make a  _ certain _ member of the Black Eagles extremely happy. “Galatea, join them. You look sharp as fuck.”

“Okay.” She smiled, lining up with the rest of the boys and leaning on Dimitri’s shoulder for the picture. Ashe was busy trying to stop Felix and Sylvain from killing each other. They took the picture and the two boys separated to different sides of the porch.

“Sylvain, what happened?” he dared to ask, knowing that Dedue was right next to him if things went awry. “I thought you made up over the whole Dorothea thing.”

“ _ I _ thought we did, but apparently Felix has different ideas.” He pushed his hair back, clearly upset by the interaction. “He won’t leave me alone about it, even though the point system isn’t a thing anymore. No harm, no foul.”

“Well, maybe he just cares about you?” Ashe offered, but Sylvain shook his head. It was unfortunate, really, that the two childhood friends refused to admit their fondness for one another. He didn’t know whether it was romantic, but it was clear that they would have a strong bond with one another and it was a shame that they wouldn’t let it happen.

“This dance is the whole camp,” Byleth announced, checking the pictures and making sure she was satisfied with them, “don’t make a fool out of me.”

“When have we ever made a fool out of you?” Annette asked.

“Dominic?” Byleth said. “You have done nothing, sweetheart. I have almost gotten fired because of Gautier.”

“You also almost got fired for fucking—”

“Fraldarius, you’re  _ really _ making me regret taking away my own ability to remove points.” She looked around. “Dominic gets ten points for being a sweetheart and Galatea gets twenty points for doing  _ that _ .” She motioned to her outfit, only furthering the girl’s joy.

Dedue furrowed his brows. “I feel like you can’t say things like that.”

“Eh, probably,” Byleth said. “Now head off to the dance, I need to go check in on the Golden Deer.”

“Oh, I forgot my drink,” Mercedes said, before returning into the cabin. Ingrid wanted to talk to Dimitri, but he was too busy  _ trying _ to fix Felix’s hair for him, while his friend swatted away his hand insistently.

Once they were for the  _ most _ part put together, the Blue Lions went down to the rec gym by the lake. They were pretty sure that it was rented out for graduation parties and such and was one of the more visibly rich aspects of the camp.

The rec gym had been decorated for the event, but it was done up leagues better than any Byleth-sponsored activity. It looked… much more in line with the kind of events that they were used to as children of rich families. The other campers who were not in the three cabins were milling about, looking especially suspicious at the Golden Deer. They were sure that the news of Claude’s little stunt had gotten around the camp. Ashe heard rumors that  _ everyone _ had to sit down with Seteth and his anti-marajuana presentation.

“They won’t be playing actual party music because they’re worried about  _ inappropriate touching _ .” Manuela appeared behind them, wearing an outfit that was nothing short of Seteth’s biggest fear of being too risque. “Mercedes, darling, can I have a sip?”

Mercedes laughed, handing over the hot pink travel cup she was holding. “Of course.”

Manuela took a big enough sip that it made all the Blue Lions question what their cabin mate had in the cup. “I hope you all know how to ballroom dance.”

“Of course, what do you make of us?” Dimitri laughed and the rest of them sighed. Of course, most of them  _ did _ know the proper etiquette of ballroom dance, but there were a few that had never attended a mock ball in order to please their parents and make sure that their family looked  _ cultured _ . “Something tells me we can get points at this event.” He leaned into Sylvain, who didn’t seem interested in fooling around for once.

The Black Eagles joined the room and Dorothea immediately ran over, not looking out of place among the rich campers. The other cabins were already on the dance floor, awkwardly dancing to the music all dressed up while the counselors patrolled the perimeter.

“Ingrid, dance with me,” Dorothea offered before swooping her up into the slow song.

“I don’t really know how to dance,” she said, frowning as Dorothea began to sway. It was partially a lie: she had been to  _ many _ formal events, but what was the point in dancing around with some boy that her father wanted her to marry? Dorothea wasn’t just swaying in place like all the other teenage couples, rather taking steps and twirling and leading Ingrid with a hand placed at the small of her back.

“Just follow my steps and I’m going to lead you.” Dorothea was laughing. “You look beautiful, Annie and Mercie did your makeup?”

“Yes.” Ingrid was looking down, trying to keep up.

“You need to stop standing around and ask that boy of yours to dance with you, my dear Ingrid. He looks too nervous to ask you himself.”

“I’m not sure that he wants to,” she admitted. She didn’t want to know  _ how _ Dorothea knew about Dimitri, but it was okay. “And we’ve only been here ten minutes.”

“He’s been looking at you that whole ten minutes. You’re just as dense as Edie.” She twirled through the space, careful not to collide into the more stoic couples. “Sometimes you need to take charge. Woman up, Ingrid.”

That made her laugh. She glanced towards Dimitri, who was now standing and talking to Dedue. Had he really wanted to dance with her? The thought made the butterflies in Ingrid’s stomach take flight. It was strange. It wasn’t that Dimitri had never interested her, but her whole childhood she had stopped herself from letting feelings develop. But now, they were going to college. They were going to be adults in less than a year.

Meanwhile, Dimitri was sitting on the sidelines wondering how Dorothea beat him to Ingrid.

“What, do you want to dance with Edelgard?” Claude practically threw himself into Dimitri’s shoulder. “I hate to break it to you, buddy, but I think that Byleth has her now.”

“Believe me, I’m not looking to date Edelgard.” Dimitri laughed nervously. He wanted to find Ingrid, but she had seemingly disappeared into the crowd. More than that, he didn’t want Claude von Reigan up in his business. “How did your parents react to your birthday incident?”

Claude shrugged. “I mean, they called me stupid, but they weren’t really mad. They were more incredulous that I was caught. Besides, it was Byleth’s dad that made the call with me, so I don’t think he was too set on getting me in trouble, either.” He pointed towards where Mercedes and Annette were sitting at a table. “You have a real one, over there.”

“Mercedes terrifies me in the nicest way.” Dimitri laughed, before Claude got dragged away by Hilda wanting to take pictures.

“You have made quite a few friends,” Dedue said once Dimitri returned.

“I wouldn’t consider Claude a friend, an acquaintance, perhaps?”

Dedue shook his head. “He is certainly fond of you and I can tell you are fond of him.”

“I’m sorry, not to interrupt,” Dimitri spun to see Ingrid calling his attention, “but may I have this dance?”

Dimitri felt his heart jump and he looked at Dedue, who nodded. “You beat me to asking.”

Ingrid laughed, a sweet sound, and pulled him onto the dance floor. “I’m afraid the crash course Dorothea just gave me wasn’t enough for me to be fully competent at dancing.”

“I took some years of ballroom,” Dimitri said as he placed his hands similar to how Dorothea did, “although I cannot say I am as graceful as Dorothea.”

“I don’t think  _ anyone _ is as graceful as Dorothea.” Ingrid laughed. She felt more comfortable now with how to step and where to put her hands and having faith that Dimitri wouldn’t crash her into another couple. “I would take it as a compliment that she relinquished me to you.”

“Of course.” Dimitri was also laughing. “Let me spin you.” He did so, watching as Ingrid’s hair gleamed in the lights of the dance floor.

“Can I spin  _ you _ ?” she asked and Dimitri relented. Ingrid did her best to get her arm over his head, standing on her tiptoes and ending up directly in his face. She kissed his forehead quickly before returning to her normal position. “I wasn’t really excited for the spectacle, but this is fun.”

Dimitri had a light blush on his cheeks as he responded. “I agree.” He was quiet for a moment, before deciding to go through with what he had been meaning to say. “You look amazing, Ingrid.”

“You look quite handsome, yourself. You clean up well.” She poked at his collar. “Sorry if you were expecting a dress like I wore to prom. I had one, but Mercedes said I should go with the suit if it felt right.”

“If I’m remembering correctly, you spent all of junior prom complaining how much your feet hurt from the heels and how the dress was weighing on your shoulders,” Dimitri reminded. “You look beautiful like this and you are radiating happiness. That’s how I want to see you.”

“I…” she trailed off, wanting to argue. She still felt like she should have been wearing a dress, but the more that the others told her differently, all of her worries were fading away. “Thank you.”

“Ingrid,” he said, pausing as his heart pounded away, “I know we have known each other for a long time, but I was wondering…” he trailed off, practically mesmerized by the way she was looking at him.

So Ingrid stood on her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. “Yes.”

“Oh my Goddess,” was all the boy managed.

Ingrid’s eyes widened. “Oh no, please tell me that’s what you were asking.” She made a mistake and she knew it. She was about to flee to Mercedes when Dimitri tightened his grip slightly on her to keep her from leaving.

“It is what I wanted,” he admitted as his face reddened into a blush.

Meanwhile, while romance was blooming on the dance floor, Mercedes was doing her best to make sure everyone was having a splendid time despite the limitations of the party.

“This is the worst party I’ve ever attended.” Lorenz sighed and Mercedes picked her head up. “I do not mean to sound spoiled, but my cabin is not fit for this kind of atmosphere.” She could see about half of the Golden Deer cabin attempting to do the Macarena in time with the ballroom music. Seteth looked like he was going to step in and injure Claude at any second as the cabin leader gyrated his hips exaggeratedly and was attempting to get Flayn to join him.

Mercedes weighed the pros and cons, then decided to share. She held up the cup she had been slowly drinking from towards the distressed man. “Vodka?”

“Excuse me, what?”

“It might make things a little more bearable,” she said. “Besides, you’re what… nineteen? It’s fine.”

Lorenz sighed, but downed a good amount of the liquor. “Is this what keeps you sane at this camp?”

Mercedes rolled her eyes. “That’s  _ alcoholism _ . Just some fun for the party. Besides, you’re not one to talk with the whole Claude birthday incident.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Lorenz insisted. “You can’t expect me to be on top of my game at all times.”

“Dorothea has never been caught,” Mercedes teased, but smiled at the man.

“What do we have here?” a voice said behind them.

“Hello, Ferdinand von Aegir,” Lorenz said in a haughty voice, making Mercedes laugh. She was feeling generous (and tipsy) so she offered the man some of her drink as well. It was a big cup, after all, and she wasn’t planning on drinking a whole bottle by herself.

“Why the fuck did you bring your own water?” Byleth walked over, putting a hand on her hip. She was followed by her new girlfriend, who wasn’t keeping a  _ convincing _ distance between them. Mercedes hated to admit how much she was looking at the woman a few shots in. She wasn’t going to do anything out of respect for Edelgard, but  _ Goddess _ was she bi. She knew she would have to see if Dorothea was free later.

“Need to stay hydrated.” Mercedes shrugged, holding up the cup in a mock-cheers motion.

“Of course.” Byleth took it out of her hands and took a big sip, before promptly choking on the liquor. “Von Martritz, what the  _ fuck _ ?”

Mercedes couldn’t help but laugh at the bent over woman. “Can’t hold your liquor well?”

“Is that  _ straight vodka _ ?” She shook her head as Edelgard patted her back gently. “You are fucking insane.”

“I’ve been sharing.” She motioned to the two men she had in her company, “Byleth, when camp is all said and done, you two should come visit me,” she suggested with a laugh. “Bring Dorothea along, will you? You do owe me.”

She was happy when she saw the nervous look that Byleth and Edelgard shared with the last line. “Of course,” was what Byleth managed.

Outside, well into the party, Sylvain was looking for some time alone. A lot had gone on the past few weeks and he was in no mood for partying, despite all the gorgeous women inside. He didn’t even have the heart to compliment Byleth when she picked them up. He wanted to be away from the people in his cabin, but it was difficult when he… well  _ lived _ with them.

“Upset because you’re not the one dancing with Dorothea?” Felix walked outside, joining Sylvain by the lake. He had seen the girl dancing with several others, none of them being his childhood friend. He wasn’t  _ worried _ but he did want to know why.

“Lay off about that,” Sylvain said, harsher than expected. “I don’t know why you’re so in my business. You didn’t care about the points until I did that and then suddenly it was the end of the world.”

“You were willing to trade your friends over some woman,” Felix said. He still couldn’t pin why he was so angry, how it had been weeks and yet here he was. Something in Sylvain’s eyes didn’t look right, but he kept on pushing. 

“What? Did you want to fuck her? She’s not with me anymore,” Sylvain taunted, growing more frustrated by the minute. “This is how our friendship has always worked, Felix. Why are you pissed about it now?”

“Maybe it was the last straw!” Felix yelled, the frustration finally boiling over. He didn’t want to bring too much attention to himself, so he quieted down. “I don’t even think you like girls, if we’re going to be honest. And I need to sit back and just  _ watch you _ do this when you look  _ miserable _ . I know that it’s what your father wants, but think about what you want for once.”

“It’s not like I can get out of it.” Sylvain groaned. “Look, it’s not like you to care. One day I’m going to get some wife and we’re going to have little babies and my parents will be  _ thrilled _ because I’m now their only son.” He put his hands out. “So, no, Felix. I don’t think I can think about what I want for once.”

“Fine.” Felix huffed, looking out onto the lake instead of at his friend. His stupid friend that cared too much about what others thought. With his dumb smile and beautiful eyes. “I get it, you won’t see me how I see you.” He said it quietly, but Sylvain went silent. He definitely fucked up, he shouldn’t have said that. “See you back inside,” he said, making sure to be harsh before turning away and starting towards the rec gym. He had to get away, anywhere but next to Sylvain.

“Wait,” Sylvain grabbed his wrist, not letting him go, “Felix.”

“Let me go.” He shook his hand away, but Sylvain grabbed his face, tilted his chin up and kissed him. He broke away quickly. “I don’t want your pity, Sylvain.”

Sylvain’s eyes didn’t leave him, shockingly serious for once. “It’s not pity. It’s what  _ I _ want.”

With that declaration, he closed the gap once more. Felix felt a lot of things in that moment, not all of them good, but all of them felt right. That this is what he had been wanting. When Sylvain pulled away, Felix let his head drop onto his chest, pressing his forehead against him. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Sylvain said with a nervous laugh. “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t already want to.”

“I guess I wasn’t being truthful.”

“Neither was I.” Sylvain put his arms around the man, tugging him close. “I suck.”

“You do,” Felix said, but he hugged him back. “You really do.”

* * *

“Awh, this is so nice!” Annette said, leaning on the table as she watched the others on the dance floor. She hadn’t checked in with her friend in a while, but she seemed content to be sitting at the table chatting away with the other campers. “Do you want to dance, Mercie?”

Her friend smiled at her, tilting her head in the other direction. “I believe someone is coming to ask you the same question.”

“Annette!” Ashe called out, looking over to the floor. “Would you like to have this dance with me.”

“Really?” Annette gasped, truly just happy that someone asked her. “Of course.”

“Mercie,” Dorothea greeted as the other two took to the floor, “can I have this dance as part of my payment for the little incident?”

Mercedes took her hand with a light laugh. “My PayPal account is my name.”

“Okay, then a dance just because our dresses compliment each other and I would like some company?” Dorothea didn’t miss a beat.

“I do love to dance,” Mercedes concluded, taking her hands and accepting the offer. “I’m just curious since you came out as polyam, are you and Edelgard a thing? You’re awfully close.”

Dorothea shook her head. “I love her dearly as a friend, we tried to have a romantic relationship, but it didn’t work very well. She has Byleth, anyways.”

“That’s what I assumed,” Mercedes said. “Sorry to grab you for gossip.”

“No, no.  _ Please keep going _ ,” Dorothea practically begged. “Everyone in my cabin can be  _ so dry _ .”

“How free are you later tonight?” Mercedes attempted as she leaned into Dorothea a bit more heavily than she would have liked. It was probably best that she gave the drink to Manuela when she did.

“Not tonight, considering I can smell the alcohol on you, darling.” Dorothea laughed, steadying her. “I’m not interested in no consent, after all. How about I ask you the same question in the morning?”

“That sounds like a deal,” Mercedes agreed.

Ashe and Annette, on the other hand, were stumbling through the dance moves, but were having a grand time doing so. Ashe laughed as Annette stepped on his toes for the third time.

“I’m so sorry!” She looked down. “Oh, I’m terrible at this.”

“So am I,” Ashe assured. “You know, Annette, I just wanted to thank you for welcoming me into the cabin. I felt so lost at first with so many of you knowing each other, but you always went out of the way to make sure I wasn’t lonely.”

“I remember the first week when Mercie was telling ghost stories, even though I told her not to—agh!” She tripped over his feet once more, but he kept a steady grip. “You and I left the room and then we thought there was a  _ ghost _ out the window. You were so brave, Ashe. I would have just died if I shined a flashlight on a ghost and it turned out to be Hubert.”

“I thought I was dead,” Ashe admitted. “I managed to talk to Bernie and she wants to join our cabin for archery next week,” he announced.

“Good for you!” Annie laughed. “She really seems sweet, I hope we can get her to hang out with us.”

“What are your plans for after camp?” Ashe asked, still keeping a smile on his face.

“Just back to school,” Annette said, stepping on his toes once more. This time, she didn’t apologize and just corrected herself. “I hope we all stay in touch. Oh! I know! I can make little address books with everyone’s numbers for everyone!”

Ashe laughed. “I would love if you did that.” He spent the rest of the dance guiding Annette around to the best of his ability while she was practically bouncing with excitement for her idea.

As much as Dimitri was having a splendid time with Ingrid, he left her to talk with Dorothea and made his way to the bathroom. He had to check on his hair and give himself a chance to take a deep breath. He couldn’t stop smiling if he tried.

“Oh, Edelgard,” Dimitri said as he entered the restroom, seeing the other cabin leader at the mirror. She was wearing a red dress and looked beautiful, but she held a glare towards him in the mirror. “I can… leave.” He began to turn.

“Dimitri, wait,” she said, stepping forward. She looked to be just as surprised as he was that she stopped him. “You and Ingrid are quite the pair,” she said, looking away.

“Thank you,” he said, although he had to admit he was more confused than comforted. Edelgard had  _ sworn _ that she would never talk to him unless it was needed. “You and Byleth as well.”

Edelgard shrugged. “It would have been nicer if Seteth wasn’t around. I want to dance with her.” She ran her hand along the counter, as if considering something. She looked reluctant to speak and he worried he was making her uncomfortable. “Dimitri, I’m sorry that I have treated you so harshly.”

“It’s okay you—”

“It’s not okay,” Edelgard said. “You are not my mother. I have been treating you as if you caused all the pain in my life and that’s not true. You have never been rude to me and I act like you don’t exist.”

“Thank you,” Dimitri settled on, clearly seeing that Edelgard wanted to make a difference. She looked like a weight was being lifted off of her shoulders.

“You saved my life, as well.” She turned to face him. “Thank you.”

“This means a lot,” Dimitri said. He had the feeling that this was all the influence of Byleth’s apology, but he didn’t mind. He didn’t care how she came to the conclusion, all that mattered was she was willing to reach out.

“Maybe we can try to see each other during the year?” Edelgard checked her hair over once more in the mirror. “Our schools are pretty close to one another. I’m sure it would be nice to spend some time with my family.”

Dimitri felt a swell at the words.  _ My family _ . To be honest, it was all that he had wanted to hear for the longest time. “Of course, you can come hang out with my friends if you want to. And bring Byleth along, too.”

Edelgard shook her head. “I don’t think Byleth will continue to see me after this, but I will do my best to come and visit.” She started towards the door, heading out. “Have a good evening, Dimitri.”

“You too, E,” he wished, before being left alone in the bathroom. 

Mercedes was an adult that could hold her liquor, but Goddess was this party driving her to absolute boredom. So she grabbed Dedue and pulled him into the last dance. At this point all the couples were getting  _ too close _ for Seteth’s liking and he was busy pulling apart the campers that were getting too handsy.

“Dedue, I’m truly glad that you came to the dance,” Mercedes said, smiling up at him. “Honestly, this summer wouldn’t have been the same without you.”

“I’m not sure that’s true,” Dedue said, trying to hold the woman  _ gently _ but she was swaying a bit too much to do so. She was going to have a  _ terrible _ headache in the morning.

“Without you, I’m one hundred precent sure that the boys would have killed each other.” Mercedes giggled. “And about eighty percent sure that Dimitri would have gone feral.”

“You are very drunk.” He shook his head.

“That’s for sure.”

* * *

“So, we lost Sylvain and Felix,” Dimitri said, taking stock as everyone sat on the steps of the cabin. The dance had ended, but none of them were willing to depart from one another  _ just _ yet. It was a nice night and there were no clouds, so they could see the stars. “They have either murdered each other or are fucking.”

“La, la, la,” Ingrid sang, dramatically plugging her ears. “Don’t want to know, don’t want to know.”

“Hey, I love all of you,” Annette said, looking up at the stars. “I’m glad we’re all in the same cabin.”

“Awh, thank you Annie.” Mercedes leaned into her. She was finally beginning to sober up, but she never got the cup back from Manuela. Frankly, all she wanted to do at this point was to sleep.

“Love you, too,” Dimitri was the first to speak up and the rest of the cabin responded, some more enthusiastic than the others. “I think we have a good group going on here.”

“What are you dumbasses doing outside?” Felix was the first one to speak when the two boys finally showed up. They had been walking obviously hand in hand, but separated five feet apart once they saw the others were on the porch.

“Waiting for you.” Ingrid hummed. Dimitri had been playing with her hair and it was putting her to sleep. She was content, to say the least, that things had worked out between her two friends. Was it going to be a shit show of one upping one another now that all four of the childhood friends were in fact dating one another? Probably, but it would be fun.

“Hopefully you two made up?” Ashe asked and the two men just responded with shrugs and joined them all on the porch, pointedly not sitting next to each other. Ashe really hoped that for their sake they would be able to be more open with the others.

“I love both of you, too,” Annette made sure to tell them and they both responded back immediately much to everyone’s surprise.

And with that, the Blue Lions welcomed the last two weeks of summer camp by somehow being the most well-behaved cabin at the entire dance.


	11. Every Summer Camp Needs a Beach Episode

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I would like to argue that a mouth filled with seaweed is not comparable to getting your hair wet,” he said. “I don’t think you want a mouth full of it.”
> 
> “Sushi.”
> 
> “Sushi?”
> 
> “You probably eat it all the time, rich boy,” Leonie said. “Consider this… organic?”
> 
> After the last Golden Deer birthday went sour, it takes extra convincing to celebrate Leonie’s. It calls for a day in the sun and a second chance for Claude’s party planning skills to truly shine.
> 
> Black Eagles: 340  
Blue Lions: 310  
Golden Deer: 420

“Now, von Reigan,” Byleth started, adjusting her sunglasses and sitting forward in her chair, “I just want to paint a picture of what is currently happening: a month ago, you and your cabin got high and were almost  _ caught _ . I was close to losing my job and now I owe a scary debt to Mercedes von Martritz.” She clapped her hands together. “And now you want to throw another fucking party?”

“It’s for Leonie! It’s important!” Claude didn’t lose his smile. “I’m sure Seteth will understand if it’s for the sake of teamwork and compassion.”

“You are so fucking unbarable, do you know that?”

“Of course.”

“No weed. No alcohol. No boats.” She thought for a second. “No getting on Kirsten’s shoulders, one of you is going to break your damn neck.”

“That sounds like a deal.” Claude gave a thumbs up. “Also, you’re invited. Can we try to make this all three of the cabins? It could be fun.”

“Sure, why not?” Byleth leaned back into her chair. “The summer is almost over.”

“What, gonna miss me?” Claude teased.

He was surprised when Byleth nodded. She didn’t say anything, but she got back to working on whatever she was doing on her computer. Claude got up to leave; he had a party to plan, after all.

* * *

“I don’t appreciate the blindfold,” Leonie said as she held Lysithea and Marianne’s hands. They told her to put on a bathing suit and shorts before blindfolding her and dragging her to Goddess knows where. She wouldn’t be surprised if she ended up straight in the lake as a birthday prank.

Instead, Claude ripped off her blindfold and she gasped when all of the campers from the three cabins yelled, “Happy birthday!”

“Oh my Goddess.” She turned around and hit Claude as hard as she could in the shoulder. “I can’t believe you.”

“Love you, too.” Claude winced. “Since I almost got us kicked out of camp on  _ my _ birthday, I thought we could do something a bit more tame for yours.”

“This is insane, you didn’t have to.” She was still beaming.

“But we wanted to.” Hilda hummed behind her.

“And,” Rapahel added, “we even got food ordered!”

“From me, this time,” Byleth said, joining the Golden Deer. “Claude, remember the rules?”

“Of course, of course.” Claude waved her off, “Sorry, Leonie. We can’t get lit this time.”

“If smoking comes with the cost of another one of Seteth’s rants, I am absolutely okay with that.” Leonie laughed. “Now, let’s go swimming.” She dragged Lorenz with her as she discarded her t-shirt and shorts and shoved him into the lake with her.

“Hey, wait up!” Raphael was quick to follow along with almost all of the other Golden Deer.

“The food will be here in an hour!” Byleth called after them, but they were past listening at that point.

“Off they go.” Marianne smiled, watching as her girlfriend surprisingly went along with it all. Just her and Lysithea were left standing on the beach to watch the others. Marianne wasn’t a fan of all the splashing that was sure to occur while Lysithea wasn’t having a good health day. She wasn’t going to let her cabin mate sit out alone.

“Von Edmund, von Ordelia.” Byleth pointed towards the pavilion where she had a speaker playing and Edelgard was already sitting. “We were going to play some card games, want to join?”

“Want to lose?” Lysithea challenged and Byleth shook her head.

“You’re on.”

“Dimitri, Dimitri.” Claude splashed water at the other cabin leader. “You’re welcome for inviting you.”

“Claude, you’re terrible,” he said, but he splashed back, starting a war of sorts. Leonie was a little  _ too _ quick to join Dimitri’s side, picking up a piece of seaweed from the lake and chucking it at him.

He flicked it off, effectively landing it in Hilda’s hair.

“Oh my Goddess, you are the fucking  _ worst _ !” she yelled, trying desperately to get it out. Ignatz had to calm her down and remove it from her hair while Raphael took to throwing another handful of seaweed at Claude.

“That was fast.” Marianne pointed to the lake while Byleth was dealing the cards. Bernie, Hubert, and Mercedes joined them. Dorothea kept checking in occasionally, but only to argue with Byleth over the music choice and attempt to take her phone before going back to sunbathing.

Byleth picked up her megaphone. “Von Reigan, if someone dies I will kill you.”

He gave a thumbs up back before Lorenz chucked a giant piece of the algae right in his face and Claude tackled him under the water.

“They aren’t built to survive long,” Lysithea said as she looked at the hand she was given. “I love them, but they are the worst.”

“I feel like I should have asked for a lifeguard to be on duty.” Byleth wiped her face.

“Petra is a certified lifeguard,” Hubert offered, rearranging the cards in his hand, “although it’s not for this country, I’m sure saving someone from drowning is universal.”

Marianne winced when the man stared at Byleth, who did her best to not hold the eye contact. She had heard about what happened the other month and frankly, Marianne hated confrontation. The conversation, however, quickly ended when Edelgard nudged Hubert in the stomach.

“You’re going to make me  _ choke _ ,” Lorenz insisted, spitting out an unfortunate amount of seaweed as Leonie laughed way too hard at him. “That is  _ disgusting _ .”

“Awh, don’t want to get your hair wet?” Leonie stuck her tongue out at him.

“I would like to argue that a mouth filled with seaweed is  _ not _ comparable to getting your hair wet,” he said. “I don’t think you want a mouth full of it.”

“Sushi.”

“Sushi?”

“You probably eat it all the time, rich boy,” Leonie said. “Consider this… organic?” She tried her best to keep a straight face, but she burst into laughter.

“I’m going to let you have this one, since it is your birthday.” Lorenz was still frowning and spitting out the seaweed. “This is absolutely terrible.”

“Sorry, you’re just such a great target.” Claude shrugged.

“I think I’m getting out of this lake,” Hilda announced. “There’s too much nasty shit.”

“That is very fair.” Ignatz laughed, but he was floating and staring up at the clouds. Most of the campers were at least in the water up to their ankles with how hot it was outside. Compared to a few months ago when no one wanted to participate… how they were behaving now seemed nothing short of a miracle.

“Hey, Ignatz.” Raphael swam up to him. He could stand, but he had taken to just treading the water next to where Ignatz was floating. “Tomorrow we should go to the studio again, I want to finish my painting.”

“As long as Claude doesn’t spring another surprise on us.” Igantz also switched to treading the water so he could properly look at his boyfriend. They had been going to the art studio at the camp for Ignatz to work on his projects, but he had also started to teach Raphael how to paint. They didn’t have to worry about how good or bad it was coming out; Raphael just wanted to spend time with his boyfriend. Even though they lived close enough outside of camp, they wouldn’t be seeing each other every day, so they wanted to get in some personal time outside of dealing with the chaos that was their cabin. 

“I’m thinking next I should paint the lake,” he announced. “There’s lots of blues and greens so it would be fun to mix the colors.”

“Water is fun to draw.” He laughed, kissing Raphael. “And skies.”

“Oh! Maybe I should also do a nice cloudy sky!” He perked up. “Oh, and a sunset!”

“Well, I don’t think we have  _ that _ much time.” Ignatz insisted, but he lost Raphael’s attention with the announcement of food. The pizza delivery person came to the  _ right _ location this time, Byleth grabbing a tall stack of pies from him and setting them down on the picnic tables, insisting that they only take two slices before grabbing more (staring down Raphael and Ingrid). All of the campers grabbed some pizza and took seats wherever they wanted. Byleth looked pleased with herself.

“Happy twentieth birthday, Pinelli.” Byleth appeared behind her. “That makes at least three of you older than me.”

“Sorry.” She smiled. “Who let you have the job, then?”

Byleth took the seat next to her and lowered the music just a bit from her phone. There was plenty of conversation, so they didn’t need to have the music absolutely blasting. “My dad pulled the strings—a bit too many strings, if we’re being honest.” She sighed. “I still don’t get why all your parents pay to send you here when you could just be yachting for the summer.”

“I think it’s for the humility.” Leonie grabbed another slice of pizza.“I wouldn’t know, I’m here on some sort of scholarship fund. It’s like a  _ look, your life could be this you should be grateful _ camp, I think,” she said, nudging Lorenz hard.

“It’s your birthday,” he reminded himself, trying to not launch into one of his rants. Besides, even with the relentless teasing, Leonie looked absolutely radiant. Her happiness was hard not to feed into.

“This pizza is the best food I’ve ever had,” Raphael announced.

“I think you said that about  _ every _ meal,” Hilda said, doing her best to wipe the grease off of the top of the pizza with her napkin. Her hair was still dripping from the lake.

“It is pretty good,” Ingrid agreed, eyeing another slice of pizza. “Who would have thought that we all would show up for a birthday party?”

“Well, it is nice outside,” Linhardt said, even though he appeared to still be half asleep from his nap. He was “sunbathing” with Dorothea—fully clothed and clearly asleep. “And Byleth asked us, so of course we all came.”

“You really pulled us all together,” Leonie added, leaning into the counselor as she pretended not to listen to the conversation. “Without you, we would still be playing tennis every day.”

“Hey! I heard that!” Claude yelled with a mouth full of pizza from the other table.

“Stop eavesdropping, Claude.” Lorenz sighed, still picking at the pizza as if it wasn’t quite to his liking. “Besides, it’s not bad here. I would have never talked to most of the people at the table if it wasn’t for this camp.”

“I’m going to try to take that as a compliment,” Leonie said, frowning.

By the time they had all finished the pizza (there was none left over—the campers had completely demolished the pies) they were ready to run around again.

“Raphael, let me up,” Claude said, motioning his friend into the water. He managed to get situated on his shoulders, miraculously before Byleth noticed. Raphael hoisted him into the air and began to walk around the lake. “Come and challenge the mighty Claude and his himbo steed.”

“Did he just call my boyfriend a himbo?” Ignatz pointed towards them.

“I… think so.” Marianne laughed.

“I think he fits the description, sorry Ignatz.” Lysithea shrugged, looking out at the water. “Byleth, they’re doing the thing again.”

Byleth picked up the megaphone. “Kirsten. Von Reigan. You’re going to break your fucking necks.”

“Hey, hey,” Claude called back. “I’m in the water, no one’s going to break their necks.”

“I’m going to kick your ass.”

“Come and do it then!”

“Hold this.” She handed the megaphone to Lysithea and dragged Dimitri into the water with her. He was complaining the whole time as she pushed him in. “Let me get on your shoulders.”

“Chicken fight, yeah!” Raphael jumped, almost sending Claude off into the water because he wasn’t holding on.

Byleth flung her shirt at Edelgard as she got into the water up to her waist. “I wouldn’t be cheering if I were you.”

“And Byleth enters the water, looking for blood,” Lysithea announced in the megaphone, Marianne showing her how to turn it on and off. “Any other challengers?” 

“Dorothea, climb me,” Petra said. She was already in the lake and ducked under the water so that Dorothea was on her shoulders.

“This is such a bad idea, darling,” she said, but was laughing hard. Their combined height was nowhere where it needed to be to be  _ successful _ .

“Okay, time to get me up.” Byleth patted Dimitri’s back.

“Only if you're sure…” the unsure man said, hoisting Byleth up. She steadied herself on Dimitri’s shoulders as he looked around for his girlfriend. He was worried that she would be upset, but it wasn’t the case.

“Oh, let me in,” Ingrid said, calling Dedue over from the shore. “I’m not letting Dorothea win.” As they were getting situated, Byleth was frowning at the Black Eagles.

“Arnault, you’re taller than Macneary. You can’t get as deep as we are.”

“Petra is also, like, twice as strong as me.” Dorothea was running her hands through her cabin mate’s hair. “You’re going  _ down _ , Eisner.”

“Last names? That’s low.” Byleth clicked her tongue. 

“Dorothea, Byleth!” Edelgard was on the shore, cupping her hands together to amplify her voice. “Don’t kill each other!”

“What about me, princess?” Claude pointed towards her with a grin.

“Drown.”

“Wow.” He shook his head. “Eisner, keep a leash on your girlfriend.”

“Gloucester,” Byleth turned towards Lorenz, who was standing up to his waist in the water next to Leonie, “you’re the ref, are we good to go?”

“Why am I the ref?”

“Because you’re enough of a snitch to be honest about who wins.”

Leonie laughed hard at Byleth’s words and Lysithea came over the megaphone with her best announcer’s voice. “In one corner, we have Claude von Reigan, leader of the Golden Deer and my favorite schemer.” Claude threw his arms in the air to greet the “crowd” of campers. “He faces his rival, Ingrid, who is absolutely terrifying and is probably going to take him down. Byleth also wants to murder exclusively Claude von Reigan and I don’t think Dorothea and Petra can go that far in the water, so they might win!”

“Your announcer sucks,” Dorothea said, sticking her tongue out at the younger girl. “Petra and I are going to do  _ amazingly _ .”

“If I hold my breath, we can go deeper.” Petra nodded.

“Okay, someone keep an eye on Petra,” Claude pointed out, even though she didn’t seem to falter under the weight of Dorothea on her shoulders. “Are we ready to start, Lorenz? Let’s go!”

“Alright, I’m watching.” Lorenz sighed. “Last person standing wins. Try not to hurt each other  _ too _ bad.”

“Dimitri, charge,” Byleth called and Dimitri did his best to sprint in the water towards Claude.

“Raphael, let’s do this! Charge!” Claude held on as his friend did a slightly-better-job at charging towards the others. They were all screaming at each other as Petra attempted to get as deep as they were, but couldn’t get Dorothea in “kill people” range.

Byleth swung at Claude (he would never admit it, but he was terrified for his life) but he ducked and pushed straight ahead at her.

“Oh, going for her chest, now, are we?” Lysithea teased into the megaphone. Claude would have  _ loved _ to see the look on Edelgard’s face, but he was too busy now grappling with Byleth. He wanted to play dirty and grab her hair, but he also didn’t want to face the consequences of that little stunt.

Raphael decided that he needed to help, as well. So, he looked Dimitri dead in the eyes and tackled him.

“Ouch, is that allowed?” Lysithea yelled into the megaphone, clearly enjoying watching them attack each other a bit too much.

“Definitely not allowed!” Dimitri yelled, trying to keep his balance. However, Raphael had thrown him off enough that Byleth toppled backwards, throwing them both under the water.

“It looks like the first casualty is Byleth and Dimitri!” Lysithea announced. “Let’s hear it for the Golden Deer!”

All of the members of their cabin began to mirror Claude as he made deer antlers with his hands. He was so busy that he barely saw his next target come in with the first push: Dorothea. 

He looked down and saw that Petra  _ barely _ had her head above water and was clearly straining to keep it as such.

“Dorothea, Petra is going to get hurt,” Claude said.

“Then face us in shallow water like real men, bitch.” Dorothea pointed at him.

“You are absolutely crazy.” Ingrid shook her head, swooping in and pushing Dorothea (thankfully, so that Petra took a step back towards the more shallow area). 

“Careful, von Reigan doesn’t play fair,” Byleth grumbled from the water, even though he doubted that she could see through her soaked sunglasses. He was about to suggest that she get windshield wipers when Dorothea almost knocked him right off of Raphael.

“Pay attention!” she yelled.

“Oof,” Lysithea said, “I really hope Claude takes a beating.”

“Hey!” He took the time to turn towards her on shore. “You’re supposed to be on  _ my _ side!”

Surprisingly, Marianne took the megaphone. Her soft voice sounded strange, amplified for once. “Actually, the announcer isn’t supposed to take sides. No favoritism.”

“Well, now she’s taking their side!” Claude whined, doing his best to fight off Dorothea, who scratched his arm with her nails.

“If I break a nail I’m going to actually kill you.” Dorothea gave another hard push as Petra almost lost her footing. “ _ I  _ wanted to be the one to knock Byleth over.”

“That’s fair.” Byleth sighed, still watching the battle. “My bets are on Ingrid, though.”

“What do you—” She was interrupted by Ingrid absolutely steamrolling her. Both her and Petra went down with a big splash.

“Just you and me.” Ingrid smirked.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Dorothea said as she surfaced from underneath the water, her curls ruined. “Lorenz! Did you see that? You’re supposed to be the ref!”

“I literally didn’t see anything.” Lorenz huffed while Leonie laughed at Dorothea’s anger.

“Take the loss.” Leonie smiled.

“Look.” Dorothea glared at Leonie, although it was obvious that she was teasing. “Me and my strong wrists are more appreciated elsewhere… but I think I deserve more respect.”

“Strong wrists?” Petra asked, but Dorothea hushed her.

“Come at me, Claude,” Ingrid challenged, but Claude didn’t really want to come at her. She was, after all, quite terrifyingly athletic and Dedue made her very, very tall.

“Let’s talk about this.” Claude smirked, but Raphael started charging at them and he had no choice but to push at Ingrid. They started grappling, but Raphael was more set on winning than Dedue was and therefore was focused on keeping balance. Somehow, he managed to knock the girl off of his shoulders, but also falling into water at the same time.

“And it looks like a draw!” Lysithea announced as Lorenz was trying to say that Claude lost just for the hell of it. They were all laughing and splashing each other as Byleth and Dorothea grappled one another, trying to push each other under the water. Leonie jumped in to pull them apart, also laughing as Lysithea found the siren button on the megaphone.

* * *

“Claude, please.” Lorenz was practically begging. Well, he  _ was _ . “Do not sing ‘Let it Go’ again. You did it twice in a row.”

Claude held eye contact with him as he pressed play once more, sending the entire room into groans and complaints. They did their best to tune out the karaoke machine, but to no avail. 

Leonie wasn’t great at singing, but she always enjoyed hanging out and singing with her friends back at home. Byleth offered the rec room, knowing that they had a karaoke machine. The counselor had even gone as far as sitting outside the room with a book just so that Seteth wouldn’t bother them. The Golden Deer weren’t doing anything against the rules (for once), but the precaution was warranted. 

“He’s really doing that again.” Lysithea leaned on the distressed Lorenz’s shoulder. Claude was doing his best to hit all the high notes in the song. He was decidedly  _ not _ hitting a single one of them and it was particularly painful to all involved. Lysithea cupped her hands and yelled, “I want to go next!”

Claude gave a thumbs up while still attempting “Let it Go.” Ignatz had to be honest: he didn’t improve over the three attempts, if anything he had gotten worse each time. He was doing his best not to mind, though. Raphael was holding him as they hung out on one of the couches. They could see the sunset out the window. Hopefully, Lysithea would choose a better song.

“Big finish, big finish!” Hilda yelled as he neared the end of the song, snapping her fingers. She was more hoping that Lorenz had learned his lesson and would keep his damn mouth shut so Claude wouldn’t go for a fourth time. His last notes received a very half-assed round of applause (it was more of a golf clap) and the cabin leader took a bow, making a beeline for the bottles of soda that were in the corner.

Lysithea grabbed the mic and flipped through the songs before selecting one quick enough that no one could see. She claimed she was an  _ amazing singer _ after all, but then “Tequila” started and it was a song that no one could mess up. Of course, the whole cabin got very into it and they wouldn’t be surprised if the others could hear them screaming  _ tequila! _ across the lake. Lysithea looked absolutely smug when she finished, handing one of the microphones to Hilda so that she could do a cheesy duet with Marianne (who needed approximately thirty minutes (and three of Claude’s renditions of “Let it Go”) to be convinced that no one was going to make fun of her and that this wasn’t to be held to a professional level). 

“Oh Goddess, they are cute,” Leonie said, watching as Marianne and Hilda sang to each other. “Lorenz, when are you going to sing?”

“I do not plan on singing.” He looked almost insulted by the insinuation that he would be joining. He had a book open on his lap, but Leonie didn’t think he had turned a single page. He had said some… questionable things to her after the dance when he had spent the entire time getting drunk with Mercedes and Ferdinand. She had honestly thought that Lorenz had deemed her unworthy of him. Instead, he was absolutely gushing over her and she didn’t know what to do about it. Raphael helped him to bed, but not before he said that he wanted to kiss her. Leonie doubted that he remembered any of it. 

“It’s my birthday,” she reminded him. “You have to at least sing  _ one _ song.”

“Fine.” He slammed the book shut.

“I know! You can do a Lady Gaga song! You love her,” Leonie urged, happy that he didn’t take  _ too  _ much convincing to get onboard.

“I said I would.” He brushed her off, not exactly  _ wanting _ to sing in front of all these people, but reminding himself that it was just his cabin mates. He waited until the couple was done before grabbing the microphone, doing his best to ignore the taunts that Claude was throwing his way. 

It turns out that Lorenz sang the best rendition of “Bad Romance” that anyone had ever heard. After getting over the absolute shock of the first thirty seconds, the rest of his cabin joined in, cheering for him and urging him on. 

“What the  _ fuck _ ?” Claude whispered to Leonie, who was dancing along with everyone else. “Who would have thought?”

“Do you not hear him in the shower every morning?” Ignatz asked. “He’s iconic.”

“That one was for you, Leonie.” He actually smiled as everyone else was losing their goddamn minds. “Happy birthday.”

“Oh! Let me go next!” Claude raised his hand high and everyone began to state their distress over the possibility of hearing another  _ Frozen _ song.

“No, nope, nada.” Hilda snatched the microphone before he could do it. “I’m not listening to you sing that song again, Claude. It’s bad for my health.”

“I wasn’t going to do  _ that song _ .” Claude echoed her whine, which he could do almost perfectly at this point of the summer. “Who wants to sing  _ Hamilton _ with me?”

They had to switch microphones and had a horrible time figuring out the parts, but they started the first half of the  _ Hamilton _ soundtrack pretty strong for a group of nerds who could barely sing. Their song choices were questionable after a few, however, especially after the frown Marianne gave Hilda after her and Claude got  _ a little too into  _ “Say No to This.” Hilda, Lysithea, and Leonie did make a good set of Schuyler sisters and Marianne was content with there not being a fourth.

Claude left as Lorenz took on the role of the king to check on Byleth. She had, after all, been waiting in the hall of the rec room for hours at that point with no one to hang out with.

“No one told me Gloucester could sing,” she said, looking up from her book.

“And that I could sing?”

“If you sang  _ Frozen  _ one more time, I was going to snitch on you to Seteth.”

“Cold.” Claude whistled. “Are you sure you don’t want to join? It seems lonely out here.”

“Fun fact, sometimes I like being alone, von Reigan.” Byleth closed her book, using a receipt as a bookmark. “Prior to this camp, I tended to be alone all the time.”

“I don’t buy it. You’re quite the extrovert.” He took the seat next to her, looking at his counselor. “You’re also very mysterious. Lysithea did a good job looking for you on the internet. No social media.”

“Not the best job—I have a Twitter that I don’t use,” she said, a small smile playing on her lips. “And I’m definitely not an extrovert, sorry to throw a wrench in your observations. I don’t have many friends.”

“You have me,” Claude offered. “Or at least I hope I’m your friend after all the shit we pulled this summer.”

Byleth sighed. “I don’t think you really want to be friends with a person like me.”

“That’s wrong, Byleth.” He winked at her, earning a roll of her eyes. “You made this camp super fun and imagine how much it would have  _ sucked _ if Seteth was in charge of us.”

“You mean someone who wouldn’t let you run absolutely rampant?”

“Yeah, now come and at least  _ join _ us in karaoke.” He took her hand and for once, she let herself get dragged along.


	12. Lost and Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We could always resort to cannibalism.”
> 
> “There will be no eating of each other.”
> 
> “Eating out?
> 
> “Goddess, Arnault. There will be no fucking in the woods, please do so on your own time.”
> 
> “What if we need to reproduce to survive?” Claude asked next to her.
> 
> The final days of camp have finally arrived and it’s time for the campers to say goodbye.
> 
>   
Black Eagles: 1,000,000  
Blue Lions: 1,000,000  
Golden Deer: 1,000,000

“Did you know that the biggest reason campers get lost in the woods is because they don’t pay attention to their camp counselor?” Byleth asked into her megaphone as the others began to follow her up the trail.

“Sounds fake, but okay!” Claude yelled back.

“I’ll show you fucking fake, von Reigan,” Byleth responded. “But in all seriousness, stay with your threesome and don’t get  _ too  _ lost from the main group.”

“Please call it something else.” Edelgard groaned, trudging next to Byleth.

“I will not change the name of the threesomes, von Hresvleg, thank you for asking.”

“I think the name is  _ lovely _ ,” Dorothea insisted, with her  _ threesome _ of her, Hubie, and Ferdie.

“Arnault, thank you. That’s ten points for Black Eagles.”

“Please explain how they went from the quickest to lose points in this competition to the biggest suck-ups in the span of one month?” Lysithea lamented to her cabin.

“That’s what happens when you fuck the counselor.” Hilda hummed, somehow managing to file her nails as Marianne made sure that she didn’t trip over any loose rocks on the path. Byleth had been planning this hike for  _ days  _ now. They were scheduled to go home in two days, but instead of packing Byleth insisted on spending nearly every second with some sort of camp bonding activity. If Marianne didn’t know better, she would say that Byleth was beginning to miss them already.

“Gautier, get the  _ fuck _ away form the poison ivy,” the megaphone rang out. Okay, maybe she wasn’t beginning to miss them.

The hike itself wasn’t a necessarily difficult one, Byleth made sure that everyone would be able to do it regardless of skill. The Blue Lions had never taken this path in particular, because it was more of a glorified nature walk if anything. 

“This is  _ terrible _ .” Linhardt groaned, looking up at the hot sun. It was particularly blinding this day, seeming to glare at them for being foolish enough to take a hike.

“Here, I printed out some mysteries about the plants.” Byleth dug in her backpack for a second, before producing a packet of papers. “Do some field research, von Hevring.”

“You really came prepared, didn’t you?” Edelgard asked as Linhardt stalked away, already flipping through the packet of seemingly interesting information. Her “threesome” was Dimitri, Claude, and her—but they were also staying in range of Byleth. The teasing she was getting from Claude was borderline homophobic at this point, but she was willing to put up with it. It was such a stark difference from the first day they had all gone to Byleth’s office to get yelled at for doing a bad job. 

“I would like to say that I’m prepared,” Byleth frowned, “but I don’t have something for everyone. Like, for Goneril, I just have ‘girlfriend’ if she acts up.”

“I’m surprised that Hilda even came,” Claude said, hitting random trees with a long branch he had picked up in the first twenty minutes (so far, Dimitri had only been hit four times). As far as he was concerned, that was probably a new record. “You also got Lorenz out the door. I think that Leonie was more of a force in that one, but good job Eisner.”

“Give me that stick, von Reigan.” She lunged at the smirking man and managed to wrestle the stick from him, throwing it  _ deep _ into the woods as Claude moped.

“You would think by now she would realize that egging him on doesn’t help,” Dimitri whispered to Edelgard. He was still unsure where their relationship stood, but it was on a much stronger foundation than it was before.

“She would never admit it, but I think she enjoys fooling around with him.” Edelgard shrugged. 

“What do I enjoy?” Byleth returned.

“Claude’s general presence,” Dimitri said.

“Eh, we’ll see,” Byleth responded, reaching up and tugging on Claude’s braid as he mourned the loss of his beloved stick.

“He’s heading towards poison ivy again.” Felix sighed, watching Sylvain almost touch the plant with “pretty leaves” before Ingrid yanked him backwards and began to scold him. “What a dipshit.”

“Awh, cute things to call your boyfriend,” Annette said sarcastically before nudging Felix. “Be nice.”

“Do you think that one deserves kindness?” he asked.

“At least from you,” she insisted. “I know it’s most likely not my place, but I think it would be good to just be a  _ bit _ sweeter to your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“You aren’t fooling anyone.” Mercedes joined the conversation, effectively trapping Felix between them. “I can understand not wanting to talk about it and this is the last we’ll bring it up—” she gave a pointed look to Annie “—but we’re here for you. If you’re worried about anything, especially with going back home, don’t hesitate to reach out.”

They walked for the next couple of minutes in silence until Felix kicked a small rock and began to talk, “I think my parents are going to be fine with it.” He wouldn’t look at them, instead just kicking rock after rock on the path. “I’m their only son left, I can’t see them putting me out over something stupid like this. Sylvain’s parents… however…”

“I’m sorry, that’s difficult,” Mercedes said.

“They disowned his older brother and now they’re all about Sylvain being the ‘hope of their family’ or whatever. They try to set him up with every pretty girl they see. I don’t think this news would go over well.”

“All you can really do in that situation is be soft with each other, then,” Annie suggested. “And in good news, you have lots of friends who accept you for who you are. It doesn’t necessarily replace blood family, but hopefully it will make everything less painful.”

“I guess you're right… thank you,” he said the last part quietly before taking a step towards Sylvain, calling for him, “Sylvain! Let me show you what plants you  _ can _ touch.” His boyfriend’s face lit up in a smile when he was called. 

“Nailed it.” Annie gave Mercie a high five, who laughed.

“Goodness, who would have thought that they would need our help so badly?”

“Dimitri came to me last night insisting that Ingrid probably made a mistake.” Dedue joined the conversation, looking up at the trees. “The boys in this cabin are  _ impossible _ .”

“Ah, yes, because the first person I would go to for relationship advice is Dedue.” Ashe laughed, sliding up next to Annette. “No offense.”

“None taken.”

Meanwhile, Byleth ran out of trail and Claude suggested that they just go “off roading” for a bit.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Ignatz asked as he caught up to the front, climbing over rocks and brambles to keep up with the leaders at the front of their caravan. “Without the trail, we might get lost.”

“Do you have that little faith in your dear cabin leader?” Claude pressed the palm of his hand to his heart. “You wound me, Iggy.”

“Von Ordelia, holding up okay?” Byleth yelled back, getting a thumbs up from the girl. “I don’t see how it could go poorly,” she decided, following Claude deeper into the woods.

“Okay…” Ignatz followed, despite getting a bad feeling from it all. His boyfriend seemed fine, however—he was helping Hilda get over the rockier terrain as she still refused to properly look at what she was doing. 

“I don’t think we’ve ever been this way,” Ingrid said to Dorothea, who was treading alongside her. “I hope Byleth has a map, the forest gets a bit confusing around Garreg Mach.”

“She looks pretty nature-y.” Dorothea observed with a shrug. “I’m sure it will be fine. Besides, we have Leonie and Petra who both have much more talent than any of those fools in the front of the line.”

“Hey! One of them is my boyfriend!” Ingrid said with a laugh. “I’m not going to defend him, though.”

“I love my dear Edie, but she has no clue what the outdoors are besides horseback riding.” Dorothea scoffed. “Not to jinks this, but we’re getting lost in these woods.”

“Don’t say stuff like that!” Bernie insisted behind her, Caspar frequently running off to grab her pretty flowers that she was putting in her hair. The two of them had settled nicely into a relationship and it was amazing to see Bernie really come out of her shell for the last few weeks. She had shared enough, however, that all of the Black Eagles were nervous about her going home. Her father didn’t deserve such a good child, that much was certain.

“I’m sure Petra is paying enough attention to get us back.” Dorothea hopped up on top of a log, spreading out her arms to balance as she walked over it. Ingrid grabbed her hand, knowing that she would topple to the dirt without her for balance. She hopped down. “Besides, maybe we all don’t have to go home if we’re stuck in the woods. We can start our own little commune.”

“I think they would  _ find us _ , Dorothea.” Hubert seemed to appear out of the shadows, as he does. “Stop saying that we’re going to get lost, you’re just making it more likely.”

The campers continued their hike until the hills got to be a bit  _ too _ steep. The pebbles made it hard to climb and Byleth realized that she would be risking injury if she made some of the less athletic members of the camp climb the slopes. Claude and Dimitri had just made it to the top of one steep slope in particular when she called it.

“Hey guys, I think we should head back,” she said into her megaphone, which she had hung on her belt for most of the time. “It’s getting to be a bit  _ uphill _ , so let’s start back in the other direction.”

“Which way is that?” Edelgard asked.

Byleth put her megaphone down. “Uh, probably this way?” She pointed in a direction as she watched Claude almost kill himself sliding down the hill he had just scaled.

“Probably?” Edelgard raised her eyebrows, although she couldn’t be  _ too _ hard on the woman. Frankly, all the trees looked the same and she had no clue what direction they had come from. 

“Okay, we didn’t walk  _ that _ far.” She kissed Edelgard’s forehead. “I can get us back, we literally only walked in one direction.”

Turns out that was  _ not _ the case. They walked for the next two hours in one direction and never came across the path or the camp, which was strange considering it took them less than two hours to get that far in the first place. Byleth was doing her best to not show that she was panicked about losing a group of twenty-four kids in her care in the middle of the woods, but it was showing.

“You might just want to admit that we’re lost,” Dimitri whispered. “We’re mostly adults, I think we can handle the news and be able to figure something out.”

“Blaiddyd, we’re not lost, we’re just slightly on the wrong path.”

“There is no path,” Cluade pointed out.

“And who’s fucking fault is that?” Byleth growled, before realizing what she was doing. There was no need to get angry at him even if it was his doings—she chose to follow him. Byleth took a deep breath and brought the megaphone to her lips. “So, as y’all have probably realized by now: we are a bit lost.”

“No, who would have thought?” Felix groaned and half of his cabin hushed him.

“Does anyone have any ideas on how to deal with this?” Byleth asked. “Raise hands, don’t all start talking at once.” She pointed to a raised hand. “Yes, Kirsten?”

“We might starve if we don’t get food.”

“I don’t think we’re going to starve in the four hours we’ve been out here.” Byleth frowned. “Next—”

“Oh! I can do the hunting!” Petra offered. “I have much skill.”

“Thank you, but I don’t think it will come to that,” Byleth said. “Finding water might be a good idea, but I still don’t think we could possibly be  _ that _ lost. Yes, Edel—von Hresvleg?” There was a chorus of  _ ooo _ ’s at her slip up.

“Don’t you have a radio or something?”

“Unfortunately, Seteth took that away from me.” She thought for a second. “Thank you, we will be blaming Seteth for this one. Von Vestra.”

“We could always resort to cannibalism.”

“There will be no eating of each other.”

“Eating out?”

“ _ Goddess _ , Arnault. There will be no fucking in the woods, please do so on your own time.”

“What if we need to reproduce to survive?” Claude asked next to her.

“Okay, y’all are just fucking with me now.” Byleth frowned. “Usually I would enjoy the banter, but to be honest I am worried about finding our way back.” That seemed to sober up the crowd that was getting a bit  _ too  _ rowdy. “Galatea?”

“How about most of us stay down here, but Dedue, Claude, and I can head up higher to see if we can find anything? We might be able to figure out where the camp is and go from there.”

“Any objections?” Byleth asked.

“I don’t think I should go, but  _ I guess _ I’ll take one for the team,” Claude lamented.

Byleth handed the megaphone to Ingrid. “Stay safe, but use this to get our attention if you get lost or need help.”

“We got it,” Ingrid assured, smiling at Byleth. “Besides, we make enough chaos at camp on a daily basis that it won’t take long to realize that we’re missing.”

While they disappeared over the tallest slope in sight, Byleth did her best to get everyone to stop wandering, taking a headcount what seemed to be every thirty seconds. She couldn’t let anyone get lost alone in the woods… she couldn’t. It had nothing to do with her job, she just didn’t want to see any of them upset because of her anymore. Besides, half of them barely seemed bothered by the idea that they were lost forever. Lysithea and Linhardt were eagerly sharing observations from the walk, throwing out big science words that Byleth had never heard before in her life. Hilda was having a great time not needing to walk, while the Black Eagles were deep in an argument over who knows. When Byleth asked, Ferdinand insisted that it was just a debate and not an “argument.”

“Huh, where did Petra go?” Dorothea asked after about an hour of fooling around. She was  _ starting _ to get worried, as they hadn’t heard from the team that they had sent out, but once again they were so close to camp that they weren’t going to  _ die _ .

“She was right,” Bernie looked to where she had been sitting, “huh, that’s not great.”

“What’s not great?” Byleth came over, tense with anxiety at this point.

“We might have misplaced Petra,” Dorothea said with a blinding smile. 

“Shit.”

“Maybe it was a ghost?” Mercedes suggested. “Came and  _ grabbed  _ her.”

“Ghosts!?” Both Linhardt and Lysithea’s heads shot up and Ashe visibly shuddered.

“ _ No _ , there are no ghosts, von Martritz,” Byleth scolded, before yelling. “Macneary!”

“I am fine!” a voice returned from the forest (that was just beginning to grow a bit dark).

“See, she’s fine—holy fucking shit.”

Petra did indeed emerge from the trees, but in one hand she had a very sharp stick and in the other… was a very dead squirrel. 

“Petra, dear, put that back,” Dorothea said, her eyes wide open as Bernie screeched and hid behind her. Now, all of the campers were surrounding them, watching in awe and horror as she hoisted it up in the air.

“We will not do the starving, now. I can get more.”

“Holy shit, no one is going to starve!” Byleth tried to yell over the chaos.

“Did you kill that… with the stick?” Leonie was the first to walk up to Petra and take a close look at the gruesome kill. “My dad and I hunt with guns, but… wow. This is impressive.”

“Please don’t encourage this.” Lorenz sighed, refusing to look at the dead animal.

“It is pretty badass.” Caspar smiled. “Yeah! Nice job, Petra!”

“Thank you.” Petra was beaming, confused as to why most of the others were insulted by her hunting.

“Well… should we start a fire to cook it?” Raphael suggested.

“Oh! I have my lighter.” Dorothea miraculously recovered.

“Guys!” Byleth yelled and everyone went silent. She put her hands up to her mouth as if she was uttering a prayer and began to talk. “ _ No one _ is starting a fire or eating a fucking squirel. Petra, put it  _ down _ . You could have gotten hurt with such a sharp stick, what if you fell?” Everyone was silent as she continued, “I don’t know where the fuck we are or what the fuck we’re going to do and I’m not prepared for this! I should have just brought my phone or actually let you guys have your—” she stared hard at Dorothea who raised her hand “—yes, Dorothea?”

“Perhaps this is a bad time to mention this, but I  _ do _ have my phone with me,” she said with a grimace. “And that didn’t occur to me until now.”

“Oh, I have mine too.” Sylvain held his in the air. “Sorry, Byleth.”

Edelgard braced herself, waiting for Byleth to start yelling, but it never came. Byleth exhaled deeply and held her hand out to Dorothea. “Can I please borrow your phone?”

Dorothea unlocked it and put it in her hand, watching as Byleth stalked off to make a phone call. The rest of the campers stayed very quiet as Petra put the squirrel down, looking visibly shaken that Byleth had yelled at her.

Byleth returned, now typing on the phone. “Okay, so my dad is going to come and find us. I had enough service to call, but not enough to just use the GPS.” She sighed, turning to Petra. “I’m really sorry that I yelled at you, you just scared me and I didn’t think. You were just trying to be helpful, so thank you.”

“It is okay.” Petra nodded.

“Now, is everyone okay?” She looked around the group as everyone nodded. “Let’s yell to try to get the others. Oh, and Arnault minus one hundred points and Gautier minus one hundred points.”

“Eh, that’s fair,” Dorothea said as Sylvain complained that she had stopped taking away points.

* * *

The last week of camp flew by after that, with Byleth’s advisors mostly taking charge of camp-wide activities. And after a final breakfast, all of the campers were moving out, dragging suitcases to waiting cars.

Byleth kept bouncing from cabin to cabin, making sure to say goodbye to each and every one of her campers. There were many hugs to go around and Byleth even made “business cards” that had her Snapchat and Twitter handles on them. “You don’t  _ have _ to friend me, but I would love to stay in touch and possibly make a group chat,” she would say as she gave each of the campers one.

“Hey, I’m heading out,” Dimitri said, shouldering his bag and calling to Byleth as she was running by. “I got one of your cards, thanks for everything.”

“I will be sad if this is the last I hear from you,” Byleth said, running over to him and giving him a big hug. “Thank  _ you _ for everything. You really helped me more than I can say.”

“You won’t get rid of me,” Dimitri said with a laugh, pulling away. “Make sure to give Annette a hug, too. She seems sad about leaving.”

“Okay, I’ll head over to that cabin next. Need any help with your stuff?”

“No, this is it, thank you. The rest of the gang said they already ran into you. It’s going to be a  _ long _ drive.” Dimitri shook his head. “Felix and Sylvain still won’t tell us that they’re dating.”

“Just give them some time, it sounds like a difficult situation.” Byleth waved him off. “Stay safe.”

With one last hug, she made sure to say goodbye to the rest of the Blue Lions before colliding with Claude trying to enter the Golden Deer cabin.

“Woah, watch it, von Reigan,” she said with a smile.

“Hilda is apparently coming home with me.” Claude sighed, lugging both his and Hilda’s suitcases out the door.

“ _ What _ ? I don’t feel like going home to my brother just yet.” She frowned. “Plus I need someone to distract me from not being around my girlfriend.”

“I’m not holding you so you can sleep,” Claude insisted. “Sorry, but I’m just not interested in you like that, ma’am.”

“I am going to murder you.”

“Anyhow.” Claude parked both of the suitcases, swooping Byleth into a hug. “I’m going to miss you, Eisner.”

“I hate that you found out my last name.” She frowned, but she took one of the cards out of her pocket to hand to him. “Keep in touch?”

“You like  _ me _ enough to want to keep in touch?” Claude gasped, taking the card and pretending to fall on the ground.

“I’m about to take it back.” Byleth sighed, but she handed one to Hilda. “Here you go.”

“Awh, thank you.” She took it, before  _ lifting _ Byleth into the air for a hug.

“Oh my Goddess. Holy shit,” Byleth yelled, before getting put down. “Since when—”

“I’ve always been this strong, thanks for noticing,” Hilda said in her usual tone. “Now, let’s go Claude, I’m  _ exhausted _ .”

“Bye, Eisner. Love you.” Claude winked and Byleth just shook her head with a smile.

“Love you, too.”

She spent the rest of the day continuing to bid everyone farewell, making sure that everyone got one of the cards. She doubted that anyone would actually friend her, but she hoped desperately that at least a few of them would message her. She didn’t want to let this go, it all went so fast.

Finally, there were only two left to bid goodbye to.

“Everything settled?” she asked as she poked her head into the Black Eagle’s cabin.

“Yeah, I think that’s all of my stuff.” Edelgard looked around the room. “Mostly camp t-shirts, anyways.” She sighed, twisting the suitcase in her hands. “I guess this is it.”

“This is it…?”

“I really had a good time,” Edelgard started, somehow managing through the spiel that she had thought of—planned in order to make everything hurt just a bit less. “I care a lot about you, I really hope that you have a good time back in school.”

“Woah, let’s slow down.” Byleth frowned. “I was about to give you my phone number. Are you trying to make me a summer fling?”

“Am I… not a summer fling?” Her eyes widened.

“I mean,” Byleth was now being equally awkward, “I kinda hoped not?”

“I’m sorry.” Edelgard pressed the palm of her hand to her mouth. “I didn’t mean to make it seem like I wasn’t interested, I just thought… that you didn’t seem like someone to keep a relationship.”

“I should have been more clear.” Byleth let out a sigh, stepping forward. “Edelgard, I was kind of dreading for today to come. But we also have cell phones and cars, so I realized that it would probably be okay. Would you… be my girlfriend?”

Edelgard smiled at the woman’s nervousness. The way that she was playing with her own fingers and the hem of her shirt. She was truly surprised that Byleth  _ wanted _ to keep seeing her. It made her heart jump. “That sounds amazing,” she said, leaning forward and kissing  _ her girlfriend _ .

Byleth slipped something into her back pocket, patting it and breaking the kiss. “My number,” she said with a grin.

“You are terrible,” Edelgard said, but tugged on her hair and brought her back into the kiss. They continued until a man cleared his voice in the doorway.

They broke apart to see Hubert lurking. “Edelgard, our ride is here.”

“Did you kiss Ferdinand goodbye?” Edelgard asked, still holding on to Byleth. “Make sure he has your number.”

“He apparently lives thirty minutes away, please do not share my address with him,” was Hubert’s response.

“I’ll send him a screenshot of the Snapchat map,” Byleth whispered, kissing Edelgard one more time and stepping back. “I don’t want to get in the way of you seeing your dad for the first time in three months.”

Edelgard laughed. “You’re funny. Our driver’s here, not any of my family.”

Byleth’s eyes widened. “Oh, of course. How could I forget?”

Edelgard took her hand as they walked over to the car that was waiting for them.

“The von Hresvelg family is very rich,” Hubert explained (threatened, perhaps). “If I were you, I would do your best to be good for their Edelgard.”

“Ah, noted,” Byleth said, still trying to process that some of these rich trust fund kids were truly children of  _ millionaires _ . Why they decided to come to Garreg Mach of all places was beyond her. A man with sunglasses and a suit took the last suitcase for Edelgard as she greeted him.

“We shall be departing now, Miss von Hresvelg,” he said as he began to take it to the back.

“That will be great,” Edelgard said, before turning to Byleth and tackling her in a big hug. “I’ll miss you. See you soon.”

“Text me once you get your phone,” Byleth said, reluctant to pull away, “so I know that you got home safe.”

“Of course.” She pulled her into a kiss.

“Miss von Hresvelg, we will be departing,” the driver warned.

“Goodbye.” Byleth placed a kiss on her forehead as they broke apart. “It was nice having camp with you, too, von Vestra.”

“Hmph. I didn’t want to poison you in the end,” he responded and Byleth took that as a compliment. After they had driven off, Byleth found a quiet place to sit. She should have been packing too, but the administration had to stay a few extra days to close up the camp for the summer. Her phone had been beginning to buzz with some of the campers getting back their phones and adding her on Snapchat. It made her happy, it really did.

“Byleth Eisner, my opinion of you has changed.” Seteth scared the living daylights out of Byleth when she had finally managed to relax. “At first I thought you were, mean-spirited, dishonest, unorganized, ill-suited—”

“Please keep going,” Byleth said, turning to him. “I am all those things and more.”

Seteth cleared his throat. “In the end, however, you have proved yourself to be quite a passionate worker. The campers really adore you and I would consider you a valuable member of our team.”

“You should put Flayn in my cabin next year.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go  _ that far _ ,” Seteth nearly choked on the idea, “but I do believe you are growing into an amazing young woman.”

“Thank you,” Byleth said genuinely. “I know I messed up more than once, but you gave me another chance. I know that it was probably just my dad—” Seteth agreed to  _ that _ a little too readily “—but I’m glad that I turned out okay in the end.”

He left to most likely start to close things up, but Byleth just stared at her phone and added each and every one of her campers that followed her on Snapchat. She knew better than to wait for Edelgard to text, since it would take her a while to get home.

“I’m proud of you, kiddo.” Her dad sat next to her. She put her phone down after sending a Snapchat to Ignatz of the pretty sunset. “You really did a good job this summer. Making friends with those brats.”

“They’re good kids,” Byleth insisted, but smiling at her dad’s compliment.

“I’ve never seen you this expressive.” He looked at her, before glancing away. “I did, though, want to ask you about that  _ ahem _ young woman that I saw you saying goodbye to.”

Byleth cringed at her dad’s attempt to start  _ this _ conversation. “Oh, that was Edelgard. She’s my… girlfriend.”

“Edelgard von Hresvelg, huh?” Jeralt sat on the name, obviously recognizing her from the list of campers. “That family put a lot of money in funding this camp. Make sure you’re good to her,” he teased, but then grew serious. “Thank you for telling me.”

“I would have told you even if you didn’t ask,” Byleth ensured. “Shall we head to those fun meetings?”

“I’d rather not.” He groaned, but got up with her. The camp was a ghost town without all of her campers running around and yelling at each other. At the beginning of the summer it had felt like this, except then all the cabin members would walk by her and not make eye contact or bid her hello. At least she knew that at this point, if they were here they would have at least smiled at her.

And she knew she would smile back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap! Thank you so much for reading... this was super fun to write and I can't believe how darn long it ended up being! While there may not be a complete sequel, [my fic Henceforth](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27357400) is a continuation into Byleth and Edelgard's long distance relationship!
> 
> If you enjoyed please consider following [my fandom twitter](https://twitter.com/writingwithmoll) and [my personal twitter](https://twitter.com/mollyswiencki) where I write sapphic polyam novels!
> 
> Thank you for the support <3


End file.
